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By  the  Same  flUTHoi^. 


-•♦•- 


THE  RAID  FROM  BEAUSEJOUR, 
and  How  the  Carter  Boys  Lifted 
the  Mortgage.  Two  Stories  of 
Acadie.     Illustrated,     .     .     .     .$100 


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REUBE  DARE'S  SHAD  BOAT 


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A  Tale  of  the  Tide  Country 


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BY 


CHARLES  G.  D.   ROBERTS 


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»  : 


NEW  YORK :    HUNT  &    EATON 

CINCINNATI:    CRANSTON   &   CUKTS 

1895 


Copyright  by 

HUNT  &  EATON, 

1895. 


22898 


Composition,  clectrotyping, 

printing,  and  binding  by 

Hunt  &  F:atc)n, 

150  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    I.  PAfiE 

The  Dido  Goes  Adrift 9 

CHAPTER   II. 
The  Red  Bull 21 

CHAPTER   III. 
The  Chase  of  the  Dido 32 

CHAPTER   IV. 
The  Cave  by  the  Tide 41 

CHAPTER   V. 
A  Prison  House  53 

CHAPTER   VI. 
The  Blue  Jar 63 

CHAPTER   VII. 
Mart  Candy  Hacks  the  Shad  Net 75 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
A  Midnight  Visitor 86 

CHAPTER   IX. 
The  Dido's  First  Fishing  Trip 96 

CHAPTER   X. 
Besieged  on  the  Sand  Spit 1 07 

CHAPTER   XI. 
Foiling  the  Sharks 115 

CHAPTER   XII. 
The  Shot  from  the  Rocks 125 

CHAPTER   Xlll. 
Candy  is  Rescued  from  the  Honey  Pots 135 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Will  and  Reube  bent  their  bodies  to  the  pull Frontispiece 

PAGE 

"She'sadrift  I"  he  shouted.     "Come  on  I  Come  on!"     19 

The  bull  swerved  slightly  and  shot  past 27 

Will  marched  ahead,  carrying  the  torch 52 

It  was  coin — all  coin  ! 67 

Then  came  the  shining,  silvery  sides  of  a  dozen  shad. .    104 
"  I  think  we'll  make  it,"  he  said  to  himself 119 


REUBE  DARE'S  SHAD  BOAT. 


A  Tale  of  the  Tide  Country. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  "Dido"  Goes  Adrift. 

THE  road  from  Frosty  Hollow  to 
Westcock,  after  climbing  the  hill 
by  the  red  creek  and  passing  Mrs.  Car- 
ters yellow  cottage,  ran  through  a  piece 
of  dark  and  ancient  fir  woods.  With  the 
sighing  of  the  firs  there  mixed  a  deeper 
sound,  the  voice  of  the  wild  tides  of  the 
changing  Tantran^ar,  unseen  and  far  be- 
low. Turning  sharply  to  the  right,  the 
road  presently  emerged  from  the  woods 
and  came  upon  a  very  different  picture 
from  that  which  it  had  left  behind.  It 
traversed  the  face  of  a  long,  wide,  steep 
slope  of  upland,  set  here  and  there  with 
a  gray  or  white  cottage,  here  and  there  a 


10 


RKUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


little  grove.  From  the  upland  foot  a 
mile-wide  belt  of  marsh  stretched  to  the 
waters  of  the  open  bay.  The  pale-green 
marsh  was  divided  sharply  from  the  yel- 
low and  flashing  waves  by  the  long 
lines  of  the  dike,  to  which  it  owed  its  ex- 
istence as  good  dry  land.  At  intervals 
could  be  seen  small  creeks  winding 
through  the  grassy  level.  Every  creek 
mouth  formed  a  little  haven,  clustered 
about  with  net  reels,  and  crowded  with 
the  boats  of  the  shad  fishers. 

Out  from  the  whispering  wood  and 
into  the  fresh  June  sunlight  of  the  open 
came  two  tallish  youths,  walking  slowly 
and  talking  with  the  joyous  zest  of  old 
friends  who  had  been  long  parted.  The 
older-looking  of  the  two  was  Will  Carter, 
just  home  from  college  for  the  summer 
vacation.  Two  years  of  college  life  had 
changed  him  little.  He  was  the  same 
?:lim,  thoughtful,  discreet,  yet  blithely 
dauntless  lad  who  had  lifted  the  mort- 
gage from  his  mother's  farm  and  punished 
the  ruffian  Baizley,  and  softened  the  hard 


THE  "DIDO       GOES  ADRIFT. 


II 


old  heart  of  Mr.  Hand.'^*  College  study 
had  increased  the  somewhat  scholarly 
pallor  of  his  face,  but  college  athletics 
had  added  poise  and  grace  to  the  move- 
ments of  his  well-knit  muscles.  He  had 
hastened  home  to  his  mrther  immedi- 
ately on  the  close  of  the  college,  leaving 
his  brother  Ted  to  take  a  month's  canoe 
trip  through  the  inland  waters. 

Will's  present  companion,  Reuben 
Dare,  was  a  chum  only  second  to  Ted  in 
his  love.  Reube  Dare  was  just  eighteen. 
He  was  about  the  same  height  as  Will, 
but  of  a  much  heavier  build.  His  was 
also  a  heavier  and  slower  nature,  but  one 
of  faithful  loyalty  and  courage  combined 
with  strong  common  sense.  His  hair 
was  light  like  Will's,  but  his  face  was 
round  and  ruddy.  At  a  hasty  glance 
one  might  fancy  that  he  was  good- 
natured  to  the  verge  of  being  "  soft,"  but 
there  was  a  steady,  controlling  gleam  in 

*  Professor  Roberts  has  already  told  the  spirited  story  of 
"  How  the  Carter  Boys  Lifted  the  Mortgage,"  in  a  volume,  The 
Raid  from  Beausijotir^  which  is  published  by  Hunt  &  Eaton, 
New  York. 


12 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


his  light  gray  eyes  which  made  folk  very 
slow  to  presume  on  his  good  nature.  In 
fact,  his  eyes  gave  one  the  peculiar  im- 
pression of  having  reached  full  manhood 
before  the  rest  of  his  face.  He  swung 
his  long  arms  loosely  as  he  walked,  and 
occasionally  he  stumbled  in  the  ruts,  being 
too  much  absorbed  in  watching  his  com- 
rade's words  to  note  just  where  he  was 
stepping. 

It  had  long  been  Reube  Dare's  keen- 
est ambition  to  put  himself  through  col- 
lege, but  the  poverty  of  his  widowed 
mother — the  population  of  that  land  of 
sailors  and  fishermen  is  largely  made  up 
of  widows — had  stood  sternly  in  the  way. 
The  success  of  the  Carter  boys,  how- 
ever, in  reclaiming  that  rich  marsh  by 
the  creek  had  proved  a  strong  stimulus, 
and  given  him  new  hopes,  with  results 
which  this  story  will  show. 

All  at  once  Will  Carter,  who  had  been 
talking  eagerly  for  the  last  half  hour, 
stopped  short,  wiped  his  fore  head,  and 
perched  himself  on  the  rail  fence  under  a 


THE   "DIDO  "   GOES   ADRIFT. 


13 


shady  roadside  maple.  Reube  leaned 
against  the  fence,  and  took  off  his  round 
straw  hat. 

"  Now,  Reube,"  said  Will,  "  it's  your 
turn.  I've  talked  myself  dry,  and  gab- 
bled right  along  like  the  '  crick '  at  low 
water.  Your  letters,  you  old  oyster,  have 
told  me  mighty  little.  What  have  you 
been  up  to  all  winter .?" 

"  Building  my  shad  boat,"  answered 
Reube. 

"  Mother  told  me  something  about  it. 
It's  great,  old  man!"  said  Will.  "But 
you  don't  mean  to  say  you  built  her  all 
yourself." 

"  Well,  pretty  near,"  replied  his  friend. 
"  Old  Chris  Boltenhouse  helped  me  with 
the  frame,  and  set  me  rio-ht  whenever  I 
got  In  a  muddle.  It  was  hard  work,  but 
I  tell  you.  Will,  it  was  so  interesting  I 
could  hardly  take  time  to  eat.  I've 
thought  of  nothing  else  for  months,  ex- 
cept when  I  was  worrying  over  mother's 
eyes,  and  now — " 

"  I  heard  about  your  mother's  trouble 


H 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


with  her  eyes,"  interrupted  Will,  sym- 
pathetically. "  I  do  hope  it's  not  going 
to  be  serious." 

"  Worries  me  a  lot,"  said  Reube.gloom- 
ily.  And  then,  his  face  brightening 
again,  he  went  on,"  But  now  I've  got  her 
done,  and  rigged  and  tarred  and  afloat  at 
Wood  Creek  landinsf." 

"  Reube,"  interrupted  Will  again,  and 
this  time  in  a  tone  of  severe  surprise, 
"  what  a  singular  way  to  treat  your 
mother !  I  cannot  imagine  that  digni- 
fied lady  in  any  such  absurd  situation  as 
you  speak  of." 

"Come  off!"  retorted  Reuben,  very 
literally,  as  he  caught  at  Will's  ankle 
and,  with  a  quick  twist,  jerked  him  from 
his  perch.  "  I'm  not  talking  of  mother, 
but  of  the  Dido,  and  I  say  there's  not  a 
trimmer  craft  will  go  shad  fishing  from 
Westcock  this  season.  I  tell  you,  Will, 
I've  just  put  my  heart  into  that  boat. 
If  it  were  not  for  that  grove  of  Barnes's 
we  could  see  her  now,  lying  with  the 
others,  in  the  mouth  of  the  creek ;    and 


"i-i 


rHE   "DIDO        GOES  ADRIFT. 


15 


even  at  this  distance  you  could  pick  her 
out  from  the  rest." 

"  Well,"  said  Will,  "  let's  get  along  and 
inspect  her  as  soon  as  possible.  I'm  as 
tickled  about  her  as  if  I'd  built  her  my- 
self; and  I'm  going  to  help  you  with  the 
fishing  all  I  can,  as  my  holiday  diversion. 
Did  she  cost  you  much  ?  Is  she  going  to 
pay,  like  new  marsh  ?  " 

"  If  she  has  a  lucky  summer,"  answered 
Reube — ""  and  they  do  say  there's  going 
to  be  a  great  run  of  shad  this  season — 
I'll  have  her  all  paid  for  and  quite  a  lump 
of  money  in  the  bank  this  fall." 

"  And  then  ! "  said  Will,  in  a  voice  of 
joyous  anticipation.  "  What  then  ?  Col- 
lege with  us,  for  the  winter  term,  any- 
way !  And  maybe  a  scholarship  that 
will  still  further  simplify  matters !  " 

"No!"  exclaimed  Reube,  shaking  his 
head  gravely.  "  No  college  for  me  till  I 
have  had  mother  away  to  Boston  or 
New  York,  to  get  her  eyes  properly  seen 
to." 

Will's    face    fell    a    little.     "That's  so. 


fr 


i6 


REUBE  DARE  S   SHAD   liOAT. 


old  man.  The  eyes  must  be  fixed  up 
first  of  all,  of  course.  But  if  the  boat's  a 
success,  another  season  will  straighten  it 
all  out,  eh  ?  And  when  you  come  to 
college  you'll  be  a  freshman,  while  I'm  a 
senior !     Won't  I  haze  you,  though  ?  " 

"  Come  and  practice  a  bit  now  ! "  said 
Reube,  grimly. 

Will  ignored  this  invitation. 

"What  did  you  say  you  called  the 
boat  ?  "  he  queried. 

"  The  Dido"  answered  Reube. 

"  Imagine  the  stately  queen  of  Car- 
thage going  out  shad  fishing !  "  chuckled 
Will.  "  What  struck  you  to  choose  that 
for  a  name  ?  " 

"  O,"  said  Reube,  gravely, "  it  will  serve 
to  keep  my  aspirations  before  my  mind's 
eye,  even  when  I  am  occupied  in  the  pro- 
saic task  of  splitting  shad." 

At  this  moment  a  long,  shambling  fig- 
u''e  was  seen  climbing  a  fence  some  dis- 
tance down  the  hill,  to  the  left  of  our 
pedestrians.  Long,  lank  black  hair  fell 
on  his  shoulders  from  beneath  a  black 


THE  "  DIDO       GOES  ADRIFT. 


17 


and  greasy  slouch  hat.  Immediately  the 
fellow  disappeared  in  a  choke-cherry 
thicket,  after  turning  a  furtive,  swarthy 
face  for  one  moment  toward  the  road. 

"  How's  your  hereditary  enemy  be- 
having himself  these  days,  Reube  ?  "  in- 
quired Will. 

"  Well,"  said  Reube,  "  Mart  Candy's 
Mart  Gandy,  same  as  he  always  was.  But 
it  seems  to  me  that  of  late  he  has  been 
troubling  his  neighbors  less  and  himself 
more  than  he  used  to.  They  say  he's 
seldom  quite  sober.  He's  left  us  alone 
pretty  much  all  winter,  though  he  did 
shoot  one  of  my  best  sheep  in  the  upper . 
pasture  along  in  the  first  of  the  spring." 

"But  didn't  you  punish  him  for  it.?" 
asked  Will,  indignantly,  glaring  back  at 
the  cherry  trees  wherein  Gandy  had  van- 
ished. 

"I  didn't  actually  catch  him,  or  I  would 
have,"  said  Reube.  "  And  I  didn't  want 
to  have  him  taken  up,  for,  bad  lot  as  he 
is,  he  does  look  after  his  mother  and 
sisters  in  a  kind  of  a  way,  and  he  is  all 


i8 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


4 

I 

1'^ 


they  have  to  depend  on  ;  for  his  drunken 
old  father  has  become  a  regular  idiot, 
doing  nothing  but  sit  in  the  sun,  pick 
at  his  beard,  and  whimper  for  a  drink." 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  the  top 
of  a  knoll  whence  the  whole  shore  line 
was  visible. 

"  There's  the  DiWo/  "  exclaimed  Reube, 
proudly,  turning  with  a  sweep  of  the 
hand  toward  the  mouth  of  Wood  Creek. 
But  the  words  ended  in  a  cry  of  anger 
and  anxiety.  "  She's  adrift ! "  he  shouted. 
*^  Come  on  !  Come  on  !  We  must  catch 
her  before  she  gets  out  of  the  creek.  The 
wind's  right  down  the  bay !" 

As  he  spoke  he  vaulted  over  the  fence 
and  started  on  a  run  across  the  fields. 
Will  was  at  his  side  in  an  instant. 

"How  can  it  have  happened?"  he 
asked. 

"  Candy's  work,  I'll  be  bound !  "  mut- 
tered Reube,  between  his  teeth;  and  his 
eyes  grew  pale  and  bright  like  steel. 


•♦She's  adrift!  "  he  shouted.     "  Come  on  !     Come  on!" 


trrr 


msaam 


THE    RKI)    liULL. 


21 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Red  Bull. 

'TPHE  short  cut  which  Reube  was  tak- 
■^  ing  across  the  fields  and  marshes 
was  calculated  to  diminish  by  a  good 
half  mile  the  distance  which  separated 
him  from  his  beloved  boat.  But  it  was 
a  path  beset  with  obstacles.  Will  Car- 
ter saw  all  these — the  long  strip  of  bog 
and  alders  at  the  foot  of  the  upland  ; 
then  the  gluey  stretch  of  "  broad-leaf " 
marsh,  passable  enough  at  a  later  season, 
but  now  a  mire  with  the  spring  rains ; 
and  beyond,  furrowing  the  firm  levels  of 
young  timothy  and  clover,  the  windings 
of  a  creek  which  he  knew  was,  in  most 
places,  too  wide  to  jump,  and  too  deep  to 
ford.  With  what  breath  he  could  spare 
— for  his  excited  comrade  was  setting  a 
terribly  stiff  pace — he  spasmodically  ex- 
claimed, "  We'd  save  time,  Reube,  by 
keeping  to  the  road.  We'll  be  tangled 
up    and    stuck    here  the   first  thing  we 


22 


REUUE  dare's  shad  BOAT. 


W 


know  ;  and  the  Dido  will  be  off  on  her  own 
hook  to  seek  the  ruins  of  Carthage." 

But  Reuben  made  no  answer.  He  ^ 
saw  no  obstacles.  All  he  could  see  was 
the  far-off  red  stream,  with  the  Dicio, 
only  a  little  way  inside  the  line  of  the 
dikes,  veering  gently  and  aimlessly  from 
one  green  bank  to  the  other,  but  steadily 
creeping  seaward  with  the  current.  Well 
he  knew  how  soon,  with  the  falling  tide, 
this  current  would  quicken  its  pace. 
Once  let  the  D/do  get  outside  the  creek, 
and  he  knew  not  what  might  happen  to 
her.  She  would  certainly  be  off  down 
the  bay  at  a  speed  which  it  appalled  him 
to  think  of. 

And  now,  running  in  grim  silence, 
Reube  and  Will  drew  near  the  foot  of 
the  uplands.  Heavily,  and  with  no  waste 
of  energy,  they  flung  themselves  over 
a  peculiarly  massive  rail  fence,  and 
entered  a  spacious  pasture.  The  field 
was  dotted  with  mossy  hillocks  and  a 
few  low  spruce  bushes,  between  which 
the  grass  grew  short  and  thick.     Two  or 


THE    RED   BULL. 


23 


three  wide-armed  maple  trees,  standing 
far  apart,  relieved  the  vacancy  of  the 
sloping  expanse,  which  ended  in  a  broad 
fringe  of  alder  swamp,  spreading  its  lab- 
yrinth of  black  roots  and  bog  holes  a 
hundred  yards  out  upon  the  marsh. 

As  they  ran,  threading  their  way  among 
the  bushes,  and  springing  from  hillock  to 
hillock,  they  heard  an  ominous  grunting 
bellow  on  their  right,  and  turning  sharply 
they  saw  a  large  dark-red  bull  stepping 
out  from  under  the  shade  of  a  maple 
tree.  The  animal  bellowed  again,  deep 
in  his  throat ;  and  running  his  horns 
into  the  nearest  mound,  tossed  into  the 
air  a  little  shower  of  turf  and  moss.  This 
was  an  honest  challenge,  but  our  runners 
were  in  no  mood  to  accept  it. 

"  This  seems  to  be  his  bullship's  pri- 
vate domain  ! "  panted  Will.  "  I  wonder 
if  he's  really  as  mad  as  he  looks,  or  just 
bluffing?" 

"  No  bluffing  there  ! "  muttered  Reube, 
in  a  voice  of  anxious  concern.  "  It's 
Barnes's  bull,  and  he  means  every  word 


24 


»-' 


REUUE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


1,1 


of  it !  We're  in  a  muss,  and  we've  just 
got  to  run  for  all  we're  worth.  I  wish 
we'd  stuck  to  the  road  ! " 

As  he  spoke  the  bull,  seeing  his  chal- 
lenge unanswered,  charged  like  a  great 
red  thunderbolt.  The  boys  rose  into  a 
fine  burst  of  speed  ;  but  ere  they  were 
halfway  across  the  field  Reube  felt  his 
legs  and  wind  failing.  He  vowed  in- 
wardly that  he  would  not,  could  not 
break  down,  and  he  wondered  in  his 
heart  how  Will  was  holding  out.  Will 
w^as  a  little  ahead,  being  the  lighter  run- 
ner ;  but  his  pace  was  flagging,  and  the 
bull  was  now  gaining  upon  them  with 
dreadful  rapidity.  Under  fair  conditions 
the  fierce  and  active  animal  could  have 
given  his  rivals  a  hard  race ;  but  now, 
fagged  from  their  long  run  down  the  hill, 
they  were  no  match  for  him.  He  was 
not  more  than  fifty  feet  behind  them, 
when  their  course  took  them  right  under 
one  of  those  spreading  maples. 

"No  use!"  gasped  Will.  "Up  with 
you,  Reube  !  "      And    springing  desper- 


THE   RED   BULL. 


^5 


ately  into  the  air,  he  cau^jht  a  branch 
and  swung  himself  up  into  safety. 

But  Reube  was  not  one  who  could 
change  his  purpose  thus  rapidly.  "  The 
Dido!''  he  groaned  ;  and,  pausing  under 
the  tree,  he  glanced  irresolutely  from  the 
sea  to  his  pursuer. 

"Come  up,  quick!"  yelled  Will,  his 
voice  as  sharp  and  inflexible  as  an  ax 
blade.  Reube  saw  that  there  was  no 
help  for  it.  His  eyes  glared  fury  at  his 
pursuer,  as  a  tiger  glares  at  the  hunters 
when  he  reluctantly  retires  before  them, 
and  he  started  to  climb  the  tree.  But 
his  stubbornness  was  all  but  fatal.  He 
grasped  at  a  branch,  and,  missing  his 
hold,  fell  back.  He  repeated  the  attempt, 
this  time  more  eagerly,  but  again  he 
would  have  missed  and  would  have  felt 
the  bull's  horns  pinning  him  to  the  tree 
had  it  not  been  for  Will's  readiness  of 
action.  Locking  his  legs  between  two 
branches.  Will  reached  down,  grasped  his 
comrade  under  the  shoulders,  and  with 
a   mighty  effort    swung   him  around  to 


26 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


the  Other  side  of  the  trunk.  The  bull 
swerved  slightly  and  shot  past.  Half 
climbing,  half  dragged  up  by  Will,  Reube 
found  himself  safe  among  the  branches 
ere  the  bull  had  checked  its  rush  and  re- 
turned to  the  attack. 

"  You  saved  me  that  time.  Will,"  said 
Reube,  in  a  somewhat  shaky  voice,  grasp- 
ing his  companion's  hand  and  wringing  it 
hard.  "  But  that  was  an  awful  grip  of 
yours.  I  think  every  finger  took  a  piece 
out  of  me  !  " 

Will  grinned  inscrutably,  and  it 
flashed  across  Reube's  mind  that  the  se- 
verity of  the  grip  had  had  some  connec- 
tion with  his  own  obstinate  delay  in 
seeking  safety.  But  the  next  instant  all 
else  was  forgotten  in  his  anxiety  about 
the  Dido,  which  was  plainly  visible 
through  an  opening  in  his  leafy  refuge. 
The  boat  had  grounded  for  a  moment  on 
a  grassy  point,  and  now  the  quickening 
current  wrenched  her  off  again  and  car- 
ried her  with  slow  gyrations  beyond  the 
very  last  of  the  landing  slips.     Fifteen 


The  bull  swerved  slightly  and  shot  past. 


^  M 


THE    RED   BULL. 


29 


■1  ■! ':';', 


minutes  more,  at  this  rate,  and  she  would 
be  in  the  open. 

"  I  can't  stand  this,  Will !  I  must  try 
another  dash,"  he  groaned. 

Immediately  beneath  was  the  bull, 
snorting  and  bellowing,  thrusting  with 
his  great  fo:ehead  against  the  trunk,  and 
pawing  the  young  turf  so  energetically 
that  it  seems  as  if  he  aimed  at  uprooting 
the  tree. 

"All  right,  old  man,"  said  Will.  "Run 
right  along  now,  and  I'll  wait  here  for 
you.  Or  perhaps  you  will  mount  the 
gentle  steed  beneath  us  and  ride  to  your 
destination." 

To  this  Reube  vouchsafed  no  answer. 
He  sat  silent  on  his  branch,  glowering 
across  the  marshes,  and  eating  his  heart 
in  helpless  wrath,  while  Will,  stretched 
face  downward  across  the  limbs,  eyed  the 
bull  pensively,  and  cudgeled  his  brains 
for  a  way  out  of  the  dilemma. 

Suddenly  he  straightened  himself  with 
a  radiant  face,  and  exclaimed : 

M    have   it,   Reube!     We'll    trick    his 


30 


REURE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


exasperated  bullship  and  catch  the  Dido 
yet ! " 

But  while  the  words  were  yet  on  his 
lips  the  bull  lifted  his  head  high,  gazed 
out  across  the  field  for  a  second  or  two, 
and  then  dashed  off  at  the  same  terrific 
gallop  which  had  so  nearly  proved  dis- 
astrous to  our  heroes.  He  had  seen  a 
burly,  red-shirted  figure  traversing  the 
upper  corner  of  his  field.  It  was  seldom, 
indeed,  that  anyone  other  than  his  mas- 
ter, the  only  man  he  feared,  presumed  to 
enter  the  precincts  of  his  sway,  and  here, 
in  one  morning,  were  three  trespassers. 
The  bull,  blind  with  rage,  charged  upon 
the  red-shirted  figure,  and  the  red-shirted 
figure,  after  facing  him  for  a  few  seconds, 
turned  and  fled  for  the  fence. 

"  It's  John  Paul !  He'll  get  away  safe 
enough,"  said  Reube.  "  But  what's  your 
plan  ?  " 

"Got  a  better  one  by  this  time,  old 
man,"  replied  Will,  dropping  out  of  the 
tree — "just  to  cut  while  his  bullship  is 
otherwise  engaged."     And  side  by  side 


THE   RED   BULL. 


31 


)ld 

Ihe 

is 

Ide 


the  two  sped  on  toward  the  shelter  of 
the  alders. 

Before  they  got  far  the  bull,  having 
routed  red-shirt  and  snorted  at  him 
loudly  through  the  rails,  turned,  dis- 
covered their  flight,  and  came  once  more 
thundering  at  their  heels.  But  this  time 
he  had  allowed  his  rivals  too  much 
handicap.  Before  he  could  get  anywhere 
near  them  Will  and  Reube  were  among 
the  alders.  Once  there,  the  big  red  bull 
could  not  match  their  speed.  He  floun- 
dered, foaming  and  grunting,  through 
the  shallow  pools,  and  the  deeper  ones 
he  had  to  skirt. 

The  boys,  on  the  other  hand,  sprang 
lightly  from  root  to  hillock,  from  hillock 
to  elastic,  reedy  tuft,  swinging  across  the 
pools  on  the  long,  bending  stems  of  the 
alders,  and  soon  leaving  their  persecutor 
far  behind.  They  reached  the  fence, 
vaulted  it,  emerged  upon  the  open  marsh, 
and  there  before  them,  still  halt  a  uiile 
away,  was  the  Dido,  wheeling  gracefully 
out  from  the  mouth  of  the  creek. 


32 


REUBE  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Chase  of  the  "  Dido." 

D  EUBE  Uttered  a  cry  of  something 
-^^     like  despair. 

"  Now,  old  man,  what's  the  matter  with 
you  }  "  queried  Will,  reprovingly.  "  Do 
you  suppose  the  Didds  gone }  Why, 
you  old  chump,  we'll  take  one  of  the 
other  boats  and  go  after  her.  With  this 
wind  we'll  catch  her  before  she  goes  half 
a  dozen  miles.  She  won't  get  past  the 
Joggins,  anyway,  I'll  bet  you  a  red  her- 


nne! 

r5 


1" 


Reube's  face  briMitened,  beamed 
broadly,  and  resumed  its  old  boyish 
frankness. 

"Why,  that's  so!"  said  he.  "That's 
just  what  we'll  do.  What  a  perfect  fool 
I'd  be  sometimes,  W^ill,  if  you  didn't  keep 
an  eye  on  me  !  " 

That  half  a  mile  across  the  marsh 
proved  a  long  one  owing  to  the  many 
detours  which  our  runners,  now  trotting 


THE   CHASE   OF   THE   "  DH)0. 


33 


slowly  and  deliberately,  were  forced  to 
make  by  the  windings  of  the  full  creek. 
At  last  they  reached  the  landing  place 
where  the  Dido  had  been  moored.  About 
the  rickety  old  wharf  stood  four  or  five 
high  reels,  skeletons  of  light  gray  wood 
wound  with  the  dark-stained  folds  of  the 
shad  nets.  The  fishino^  season  was  riijht 
at  hand,  but  had  not  yet  begun.  Around 
the  boats  and  the  reels  were  many  half- 
obliterated  footprints,  left  by  the  feet  of 
those  who  had  been  winding  the  nets  and 
pitching  the  seams  of  the  boats.  Of 
fresh  tracks  there  was  but  one  set — the 
tracks  of  some  one  with  long,  narrow  feet, 
who  walked  without  turning  out  his  toes. 
To  these  tracks  Reube  pointed  with 
orim  sicrnificance  of  resture. 

"  Yes,"  said  Will,  "  I  understand.  Did 
you  ever  see  a  plainer  signature  than 
Mart  Gandy  makes  with  his  feet.'^" 

The  smallest  of  the  fishing  boats  at 
the  wharf  was  a  light  "  pinkie  " — a  name 
given  by  the  Tantramar  fishermen  to  a 
special    kind    of   craft    with    the    stern 


i 


' 


I 


I;  « 


m: 


! 


r 


34 


REUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


pointed  like  the  stem.  The  pinkie, 
painted  red  and  white  instead  of  black- 
ened with  tar  like  the  other  boats,  was  a 
good  sailer.  She  belonged  to  Barnes, 
the  owner  of  the  red  bull  ;  and  to  Reube's 
judicial  mind  it  seemed  appropriate  that 
she  should  be  taken  without  leave.  There 
was  a  further  inducement  in  the  fact  that 
she  could  be  got  afloat  more  easily 
than  any  of  the  other  boats.  The  tide 
had  fallen  so  that  her  keel  was  high  and 
dry ;  and  the  fine  mud  of  Tantramar 
gripped  it  with  astonishing  tenacity.  But 
after  a  few  minutes  of  such  straining  as 
made  the  veins  stand  out  on  Will's  fore- 
head, and  brought  a  redness  about 
Reube's  steel-gray  eyes,  she  was  afloat. 

Up  went  her  dainty  jib;  up  went  her 
broad  white  mainsail  ;  and  presently  the 
red-and-white  pinkie  with  Reube  at  the 
helm  was  nimbly  threading  the  sharp 
curves  of  the  creek.  After  a  succession 
of  short  tacks  the  channel  straightened, 
and  heelinsf  far  over  with  the  strong  wind 
on  her  quarter  the  pinkie  ran  into  the 


THE  CHASE   OF  THE  "  DTDO. 


35 


open  with  the  tawny  surf  hissing  at  her 
gunwale.  Reube  held  his  course  till  they 
were  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  out, 
dreading  some  hungry  shoals  he  knew  of. 
Then  he  let  out  the  sheet,  eased  up  on 
the  tiller,  and  put  the  pinkie's  head 
straight  down  the  bay  on  the  Dido's  track. 
Will  loosened  out  the  jib,  belayed  it, and 
lay  down  on  the  cuddy  in  its  shadow. 
The  Dido  was  out  of  sight  beyond  the 
rocks  and  high  oak  trees  of  Wood  Point. 

A  stern  chase,  as  has  been  said  from  of 
old,  is  a  long  chase ;  and  while  the  red- 
and-white  pinkie  was  scudding  before 
the  wind  and  shearing  the  yellow  waves 
with  her  keen  bow,  Reube  and  Will  had 
to  curb  their  impatience.  They  did  not 
even  whistle  for  more  wind,  for  they  had 
all  the  wind  the  pinkie  could  well  endure. 
When  their  ears  had  grown  used  to  the 
slap  and  crumbling  rush  of  the  foam- 
wave  past  their  gunwale  they  spoke  of 
Mart  Gandy. 

Reube  Dare's  father,  whose  farm  ad- 
joined that  of  the  Gandys,  had  got  him- 


^1  I 


M 


tf*' 


36 


REU15E   DARES    SHAD    1U)AT. 


I 


I 


self  em])roiled  with  old  Gandy  over  the 
location  of  the  dividino-  line.  While 
Reiibe  was  yet  a  very  small  boy  old 
Gandy  had  pulled  down  the  dilapidated 
line  fence  during  one  of  Captain  Dare's 
absences,  and  had  put  up  a  new  one 
which  encroached  seriously  on  the  Dares' 
best  field.  On  Captain  Dare's  return  he 
expostulated  with  Gandy ;  and  findino- 
expostulation  useless  he  quietly  shifted 
back  the  fence.  Then  his  ship  sailed  on 
a  lonof  voyaire  to  the  Guano  Islands  of 
the  Pacific  ;  and  while  he  was  scorching 
off  the  rainless  coasts  of  northern  Peru, 
Gandy  again  took  possession  of  the  cov- 
eted strip  of  field.  From  this  voyage 
Captain  Dare  came  back  with  broken 
health.  He  gave  up  his  ship,  settled 
down  on  the  farm  overlooking  the 
marshes,  and  called  in  die  arm  of  the  law 
to  curb  old  Gaudy's  aggression.  The 
fence  had  by  this  time  been  moved  back- 
ward and  forward  several  times,  each  time 
leavincr  behind  a  redder  and  more  threat- 
eninor  line  of  wrath.    When  the  case  came 


THE  CHASE   OF  THE  "  DIDO.' 


37 


into  court  the  outcome  was  a  surprise  to 
both  contestants.  There  were  rummacfintr 
out  of  old  titles  and  unearthing  of  old 
deeds,  till  Captain  Dare's  lawyer  made  it 
clear  not  only  that  Gaudy's  claim  was  un- 
founded, but  also  that  before  the  dispute 
arose  Gandy  had  been  occupying  some 
three  acres  of  the  old  Dare  property.  The 
original  grant,  made  a  hundred  years 
earlier  to  Captain  Dare's  grandfather,  re- 
quired that  the  line  should  run  down  the 
middle  of  old  Gaudy's  sheep  pasture — a 
worthless  tract,  but  one  which  now  ac- 
quired value  in  Gandy's  eye.  Dowm  the 
pasture  forthwith  was  the  new  fence  run, 
for  Captain  Dare,  fired  to  obstinacy  by 
his  neicrhbor's  wanton  airorression,  would 
take  no  less  than  his  rights.  Then,  the 
victory  assured  to  him,  the  captain  died, 
leaving  to  his  widow  and  his  boy  a  feud 
to  trouble  their  peace.  The  farm  was 
productive,  but  for  some  years  old 
Gandy  had  vexed  them  with  ceaseless  and 
innumerable  small  annoyances.  When 
the  old  man  sank  into  imbecility,  then  his 


I  J 


;t  I 


38 


REUBE  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


son  Mart,  a  swarthy  and  furtive  strip- 
lint^,  who  betrayed  the  blood  of  a  far-off 
Indian  ancestor,  took  up  the  quarrel  with 
new  bitterness.  In  Mart  Gandy's  dark  and 
narrow  soul,  which  was  redeemed  from 
utter  worthlessness  by  his  devotion  to  his 
family,  hatred  of  the  Dares  stood  as  a 
sacred  duty.  It  was  his  firm  faith  that 
his  father  had  been  tricked  by  a  conspir- 
acy between  judge,  jury,  and  lawyers. 
The  persistency  of  his  hate  and  the  cun- 
ning of  his  strokes  had  been  a  steady 
check  upon  the  prosperity  of  Reube  and 
his  mother. 

In  answer  to  a  rerhark  of  Reube  on 
this  subject  Will  exclaimed,  "  But  you've 
got  him  all  right  this  time,  old  man. 
There  can  be  no  difficulty  in  identifying 
those  footprints." 

Reube  laughed  somewhat  sarcastically. 

"  Do  you  suppose,"  he  inquired,  *'  that 
the  tide  is  going  to  leave  them  as  they 
are  while  we  go  after  the  Dido,  fetch  her 
back,  and  then  go  and  get  those  holes  in 
the  mud  examined  by  the  authorities?" 


THE  CHASE  OF  THE  "DIDO. 


39 


"Well,  perhaps  my  suggestion  was 
hasty,"  acknovvledged  Will. 

After  an  hour's  run  Wood  Point  was 
left  behind,  and  there  was  the  Dido  not 
a  mile  ahead  and  well  inshore.  She  had 
been  delayed  in  the  eddies  of  the  cove 
below  the  Point.  Reube  gave  a  shout 
of  joy  and  twisted  his  helm  to  starboard, 
while  Will  warned  him  to  look  out  for 
the  mud  flats  with  which  the  cove  was 
choked. 

"  O,"  said  Reube,  confidently,  "  I  know 
the  place  like  a  book." 

The  red-and-white  pinkie  was  now 
rapidly  overhauling  the  vagrant  craft 
when  a  stiff  current  caught  the  latter  and 
she  began  to  race  along  the  curve  of  the 
farther  shore.  Reube  was  anxious  to 
catch  her  before  she  should  round  the 
next  headland,  and  get  back  into  rough 
water.  The  headland  was  a  low,  humped 
promontory  of  mingled  plaster  rocks  and 
yellowish  sand,  without  a  tree  upon  its 
grassy  crest.  Shifting  his  course  to  in- 
tercept   the    Dido,    Reube    steered    the 


K  . 


;   r 


40 


REUUE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


pinkie  straiijht  for  the  point.  Just  then 
the  Dido  was  seen  to  give  a  lurch,  stop 
short,  and  keel  over  to  the  gunwale. 

*'  She's  run  aground  !"  cried  Will. 

"  But  we've  got  her  safe  and  will  sail 
her  back  on  next  tide,"  said  Reube,  heav- 
ing a  sigh  of  relief  as  he  saw  that  his 
beloved  craft  stood  still,  refusing  to  be 
rolled  over  by  the  push  of  the  yellow  tide 
upon  her  ribs. 

The  pinkie  was  sailing  at  a  great  pace. 

"  Better  take  in  the  jib,  Will,"  said 
Reube. 

W^ill  sprang  up  to  obey.  Just  as  he 
rose  there  was  a  stacreerincr  shock.  The 
pinkie  buried  her  nose  in  a  hidden  mud- 
bank.  The  waves  piled  over  her  gun- 
wales ;  the  mast  bent  without  breaking, 
like  the  brave,  touo[h  timber  it  was;  and 
Will  shot  overboard  headlong  into  the 
foam. 


THE   CAVE   BY   THE   TIDxil. 


41 


CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Cave  by  the  Tide. 

A  CTING  instantly  on  the  impulse  of 
^^  an  old  sailor,  Reube  had  sprung 
forward  almost  with  the  shock,  and 
started  to  haul  down  the  mainsail  in 
order  to  relieve  the  strain.  The  next 
moment,  however,  while  the  half-lowered 
sail  was  bulging  and  flapping,  he  leaped 
into  the  bow  to  help  Will.  The  latter 
rose  with  a  gasp  and  stood  waist  deep, 
clinging  to  the  bowsprit.  His  head  and 
arms  were  bedaubed  grotesquely  with 
the  mud  into  which  he  had  plunged  with 
such  violence.  He  gazed  sternly  at 
Reube,  and  exclaimed : 

"  Perhaps  you'll  claim  that  you  know 
these  mud  banks  as  well  as  I  do !  I 
earnestly  hope  you  may,  some  day,  gain 
the  same  intimate  knowledire  of  them  !  " 

Then  he  climbed  aboard  and  finished 
the  furling  of  the  sails,  while  Reube 
rolled  convulsively  in  the  bottom  of  the 


»  * 


M    , 


If 


fWR 


42 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


boat,  unable  to  control  his  laughter.  He 
recovered  himself  only  when  Will  trod 
upon  him  without  apology,  and  threat- 
ened to  put  him  overboard. 

When  the  sails  had  been  made  snug, 
and  the  pinkie  bailed  out,  and  the  mud 
cleaned  with  pains  from  Will's  face  and 
hair  and  garments,  there  was  nothing  to 
do  but  watch  the  Dido  in  the  distance 
and  wait  for  the  tide  to  fall.  In  another 
half  hour,  or  a  little  more,  only  a  waste  of 
red  flats  and  yellow  pools  separated  the 
two  stranded  boats.  Reube  took  off  his 
shoes  and  socks,  rolled  his  trousers  up 
high,  and  stepped  overboard.  These  pre- 
cautions were  for  Will  superfluous  ;  so 
he  went  as  he  was,  and  congratulated 
himself  on  being  able  to  defy  all  hidden 
clam  shells.  Before  he  went,  however,  he 
took  the  precaution  to  put  out  the  pink- 
ie's anchor,  for  which  Reube  derided  him. 

"  The  pinkie's  no  Western  stern-wheel- 
er, to  navigate  a  field  of  wet  grass  ! " 
said  he.  *'  I  fancy  she'll  wait  here  till 
next  tide  all  right ! " 


THE   CAVE   BY   THE   TH)E. 


43 


"  Yes — but  then  ?  "  queried  Will,  lacon- 
ically. 

"  Then,"  replied  Reube,  "  we'll  come 
back  for  her  with  the  Dido!' 

"  There's  lots  one  never  knows  !  "  said 
Will,  as  he  looked  carefully  to  the  an- 
chor rope.  And  as  things  turned  out  it 
was  well  he  did  so — a  fact  which  Reube 
had  to  acknowledge  penitently. 

The  distance  between  the  stranded 
boats  was  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  yet  it  took  the  boys  some  time  to 
traverse  it.  The  bottom  of  the  cove  was 
for  the  most  part  a  deep  and  clinging 
ooze,  which  took  them  to  the  knee  at 
every  step,  and  held  their  feet  with  the 
suction  of  an  airpump.  Here  and  there 
were  patches  of  hard  sand  to  give  them 
a  moment's  ease  ;  but  here  and  there,  too, 
were  the  dreaded  "  honey  pots  "  for  which 
that  part  of  the  coast  is  noted,  and  to 
avoid  these  they  had  to  go  most  circum- 
spectly. The  "  honey  pot  "  is  a  sort  of 
quicksand  in  which  sand  is  replaced  by 
slime — a  bottomless  quagmire  which  does 


'M' 


(I   » 


I 


44 


r:^' 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


its  work  with  inexorable  certainty  and 
deadly  speed.  Both  Reube  and  Will 
knew  the  strange,  ominous  olive  hue 
staining  the  red  mud  over  the  mouths  of 
these  traps,  but  they  knew,  also,  that  all 
signs  sometimes  fail,  so  they  took  the 
boathook  with  them  and  prodded  their 
path  cautiously.  At  last,  after  wading  a 
long,  shallow  lagoon,  the  bottom  of  which 
was  thick  with  shells,  and  unfriendly  to 
Reube's  bare  feet,  they  reached  the  run- 
away Dido. 

Breathless  with  anxiety,  Reube  climbed 
over  the  side,  suddenly  imagining  all 
sorts  of  damage  and  defilement.  But  his 
darling  was  none  the  worse  for  her  invol- 
untary cruise.  She  had  shipped  some 
muddy  water,  but  that  was  all  that  Reube 
could  grumble  at.  Gandy  had  been  too 
shrewd  to  do  anything  that  might  look 
like  malice  aforethoucrht.  Ill  a  trice  the 
trim  craft  was  bailed  out  and  sponged 
dry.  Then  Will  admired  her  critically 
from  stem  to  stern, from  top  to  keel,  asking 
a  thousand  learned  questions  by  the  way, 


TiiK  (AVI-:  i;y  the  tide. 


45 


and  feelinji;;  almost  persuaded  to  build  a 
boat  himself.  But  even  this  interestinir 
procedure  came  to  an  end,  and  at  length 
the  comrades  threw  themselves  down  on 
the  cuddy  roof,  and  realized  that  they 
were  hungry.  It  was  long  past  their  din- 
ner time.  The  tide  was  not  yet  at  its 
lowest  ebb,  and  it  would  be  four  or  five 
hours  ere  they  could  hope  to  get  the 
boats  aoain  afloat. 

The  only  thing  they  had  to  eat  was  a 
pocketful  of  dried  dulse  which  Reube 
had  brought  with  him.  This  they  de- 
voured, and  it  made  them  very  thirsty. 
They  decided  to  go  ashore  and  look  for 
a  spring.  Far  away,  on  the  crest  of  the 
upland,  were  some  houses,  at  which  they 
gazed  hungrily,  but  the  idea  of  leaving 
the  Dido  and  the  pinkie  for  any  such 
long  jaunt  was  not  to  be  entertained  for 
a  moment.  As  they  again  stepped  out 
into  the  mud  Will  repeated  the  precau- 
tion which  he  had  taken  in  re<j:ard  to  the 
pinkie.  He  put  out  the  little  anchor, 
and  paid  no  heed  to    Reube's    derision. 


.1    IK 


46 


REUliE   DARE  S    SHAD    HOAT. 


To  be  sure,  Reiibe  was  both  owner  and 
captain,  but  Will  stood  not  on  ceremony. 

Not  far  from  high-water  mark  our 
thirsty  explorers  found  a  clear,  cold  spring 
bubbling  out  from  beneath  a  white  plaster 
rock.  The  water  was  very  hard,  carrying 
a  great  deal  of  lime  in  solution,  and  Will 
lectured  learnedly  on  the  bad  effect  it 
would  have  upon  their  stomachs  if  they 
drank  much  of  it.  As  usually  happens, 
however,  this  theorizing  had  small  force 
against  the  very  practical  fact  of  their 
thirst.  So  they  drank  till  they  were  per- 
fectly satisfied,  and  were  afterward  none 
the  worse.  This,  Will  insisted,  was  thanks 
to  the  abundance  of  sorrel  which  they 
found  amid  the  grass  near  by,  whose  acid 
was  kind  enough  to  neutralize  the  lime 
which  they  had  sw^allowed. 

"But  I  say,"  urged  Reube,  "there  are 
folks  back  yonder  who  drink  water  like 
this  all  their  lives.  The  wells  in  this 
plaster  belt  are  all  hard  like  this,  and 
some  of  the  people  who  drink  from  them 
live  to  over  ninety." 


THE   CAVE   BV    THE   TIDE. 


47 


"  That  proves  nothing,"  said  Will,  "  ex- 
cept that  they  are  a  long-lived  stock.  If 
they  had  sense  enough  to  go  somewhere 
else  and  drink  soft  water  they  might  live 
to  over  a  hundred  !" 

Reube  cared  little  for  argument,  always 
finding  it  hard  to  know  whether  Will  was 
in  earnest  or  not.  He  lazily  changed  the 
subject. 

"  By  the  way,"  he  remarked,  "  now's  just 
the  chance  to  visit  the  cave  at  the  end  of 
the  Point ! " 

"  Cave  ! "  cried  Will,  jumping  up  from 
the  grass.  **  What  cave  ?  How  can  there 
be  a  cave  round  here  without  me  know- 
ing it }  " 

"  Why,  I  only  heard  of  it  myself  last 
fall,"  said  Reube.  "  You  see,  the  mouth 
of  it  isn't  uncovered  till  near  low  water; 
and  nobody  comes  near  this  point  at  any 
time,  there  beinpf  nothinof  to  come  for, 
and  the  shoals  and  eddies  so  troublesome. 
I've  sailed  round  here  a  good  deal  at  high 
and  half  tide,  but  no  one  comes  near  it 
when  tide's  out.     You  see  all  the  broken 


i 


'  I 


48 


UEU15K    DARKS    SHAD    150AT. 


rocks  scattered  away  out  across  the  flats 
from  the  Point.  And  as  for  the  *'  honey 
pots"  between  them — well,  old  Chris 
Boltenhouse,  who  told  me  all  about  the 
place  last  fall,  said  they  were  a  terror. 
You  couldn't  step  without  getting  into 
one.  Chris  also  told  me  that  the  Aca- 
dians,  at  the  time  of  their  expulsion,  had 
used  the  cave  as  a  hiding  place  for  some  of 
their  treasures,  and  that  when  he  was 
a  boy  quite  a  lot  of  coin  and  silver  orna- 
ments had  been  found  there." 

"Queer,  too,"  muttered  Will,  "how 
things  like  that  drop  out  of  peoples  minds, 
come  back,  and  are  forgotten  again  !  Well, 
let's  look  into  the  hole  while  we've  eot 
time  ; "  and  the  two  ran  hastily  to  the  nar- 
row end  of  the  turf. 

Over  the  slippery  rocks  below  tide 
mark  they  had  to  move  more  deliberately, 
but  in  a  short  time  they  reached  the  foot 
of  the  promontory  and  stood  on  the 
verore  of  the  flats  not  half  an  hour  above 
low  water.  Very  villainous  indeed  looked 
the    flats,  with    the    olive-hued     menace 


ill 


THE   CAVE   DV   THE   TIDE. 


49 


spread  over  them  on  every  hand.  But 
there  was  no  siorn  of  a  cave.  Scanninc^ 
the  rocks  minutely,  our  explorers  skirted 
the  whole  front  of  the  headland,  but  in 
vain.  Then  they  started  to  retrace  their 
steps,  inveighing  against  the  falsity  of 
traditions.  But  now,  their  faces  being 
turned,  the  rocky  masses  took  on  for  them 
a  new  configuration,  and  they  discovered 
a  narrow  strait,  as  it  were,  behind  a  jutting 
bowlder.  It  was  a  most  unlikely-looking 
place  for  a  cave  entrance,  but  Will  poked 
his  nose  into  it  curiously.  The  next  mo- 
ment he  chouted : 

"  Found  ! " 

Reube  sprang  to  his  side.  There, 
behind  the  sentinel  rock,  was  a  narrow, 
triangular  opening  of  about  the  height 
of  a  man.  Its  base,  some  four  feet  wide, 
was  thickly  silted  with  mud,  and  its  sides 
dripped  forbiddingly.  Will  stepped  in- 
side, and  then  turned. 

"  It's  darker  than  Egypt ! "  he  exclaimed. 
"  How  are  we  going  to  explore  it  without 
alight.?" 


50 


REUIJIC   DARE  S    SHAD  BOAT. 


\  « 


I  1 


i 


•'  Ah,"  said  Reube  in  tones  of  triumph, 
"  I've  got  ahead  this  time.  Will !  I  hap- 
pened to  bring  a  whole  bunch  of  matches 
from  home  in  my  pocket  to  supply  the 
Didos  cuddy.  And  I  picked  up  this  on 
the  Point  when  you  were  running  ahead 
in  such  a  hurry."  And  he  drew  a  sliver 
of  driftwood  pine  from  under  his  jacket. 

"Good  for  you,  old  man!"  cried  Will, 
joyously.  In  a  second  or  two  the  sliver 
was  ablaze,  and  the  explorers  plunged 
into  a  narrow  passage  whose  floor  sloped 
upward  swiftly. 


1 1 


Will  marched  ahead  carrying  the  torch. 


A    TKISOX    IIOL'SI:. 


53 


CHAPTER    V. 
A  Prison  House. 

T  N  their  eacrcrness  they  forgot  to  look 
-*■  around  before  (.'iitering  the  cave. 
They  forgot  to  look  at  the  tide,  which 
had  already  turned  and  was  creeping 
swiftly  over  the  treacherous  levels.  They 
forgot  everything  except  that  they  were 
in  the  cave  where  once  undoubtedly  had 
been  Acadian  treasures,  and  where,  as 
each  dreamed  in  his  heart  and  denied  on 
his  lips,  some  remnant  of  such  treasures 
might  yet  He  hidden. 

Will  marched  ahead  carrying  the  torch 
and  peering  wMth  eager  enthusiasm  into 
every  crevice.  The  cave  was  full  of 
crevices,  br.t  they  were  shallow  and  con- 
tained nothinof  of  interest  but  some  fair 
crystals  of  selenite,  which  gleamed  like 
diamonds  in  the  torchlight.  A  few  of 
these  Reube  broke  off  and  pocketed  as 
specimens.  The  cave  widened  slowly  as 
it  ascended,  and    the   slope  of  its   floor 


5jS 


n 


4 


i:^ 


54 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


kept  it  well  drained  in  spite  of  the  water 
ceaselessly  dripping  from  roof  and  walls. 
Its  shape  was  roughly  triangular,  and  our 
explorers  sometimes  bumped  their  heads 
smartly  in  their  haste. 

Presently  they  reached  a  point  where 
a  narrow  gallery  ran  off  from  the  main 
passage.  Which  to  take  was  the  prob- 
lem. 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Reube,  "that  if 
there  was  any  of  the  old  Acadians'  stuff 
here  it  would  be  most  likely  to  be  hid- 
den in  the  smaller  passage." 

"  Acadians'  stuff  !  "  sniffed  Will,  sarcas- 
tically.    "  A  lot  of  that  we'll  find  ! " 

But,  none  the  less,  he  acted  on  Reube's 
suggestion,  and  led  the  way  up  the  side 
gallery.  After  running  some  twenty-five 
feet  the  gallery  turned  a  corner  and 
ended  in  a  smooth,  sloping  face  of  rock. 
There  was  no  sign  of  crevice  or  hiding 
place  here.  Across  the  sloping  face  of 
the  rock  there  ran  a  ledge  about  a  foot 
wide  some  five  or  six  feet  above  the 
floor,  and  the  roof  of  the  gallery  at  this 


A   PRISON   HOUSE. 


55 


point  ascended  steeply  to  a  narrow  and 
longish  peak. 

"  No  risk  of  bumping  our  heads  here," 
said  Will,  as  he  flung  the  torchlight 
along  the  ledge  and  showed  its  empti- 
ness. 

"  Better  hurry  back  and  try  if  we  can't 
finish  the  main  cave  before  the  light  goes 
out,"  said  Reube,  pointing  to  the  pine 
sliver,  already  more  than  half  consumed. 
Shielding  the  flame  with  his  hand  to 
make  it  burn  more  slowly.  Will  led  the 
way  with  quick  steps  back  to  the  larger 
gallery.  This  now  became  more  inter- 
esting. Its  walls  were  strewn  with  most 
suggestive-looking  pockets,  so  to  speak, 
full  of  silt  and  oozy  debris,  into  which 
Will  and  Reube  plunged  their  hands 
hastily,  expecting  to  find  a  coin  or  a  sil- 
ver candlestick  in  every  one.  So  fasci- 
nated were  they  by  this  task  that  they 
paid  no  heed  to  the  torch  till  it  burned 
down  and  scorched  Will's  finorers.  He 
gave  a  startled  cry,  but  had  presence  of 
mind  enough  not  to  drop  it.     To  make  it 


;■ 


56 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


last  a  little  longer  he  stuck  it  on  the  point 
of  his  knife, and  then  exclaimed, in  atone 
of  disappointment : 

"  Reube,  we  must  cfet  out  of  this  while 
the  lio^ht  lasts — and  that'll  have  to  be 
pretty  quick  ! " 

"  Rather  !  "  assented  Reube.    "  Hark ! " 

The  word  was  barely  out  of  his  mouth 
before  the  two  lads  were  running  for  the 
cave  mouth,  their  heads  bent  low,  their 
hearts  beating  wildly.  The  sound  which 
they  had  caught  was  a  hollow  wash  of 
waves.  In  a  few  seconds  the  torch  went 
out,  but  there  was  a  pale,  glimmering 
light  before  them,  enough  to  guide  their 
feet.  This  puzzled  them  by  its  peculiar 
tone,  but  in  half  a  minute  more  they  un- 
derstood. It  came  filterinor  through  the 
tawny  tide  which  they  found  seething 
into  the  cave's  mouth  and  filling  it  to 
the  very  top.  Will  gave  a  gasp  of  hor- 
ror, and  Reube  leaned  in  silent  despair 
against  the  wall  of  the  passage. 

"  The  tide  will  fill  this  cave  to  the  very 
top,  I  believe,"  said  he. 


A    I'KISON    HOUSE. 


57 


"  Yes,"  answered  Will,  in  a  voice  of 
fixed  resolve  ;  "  there's  nothing  for  it  but 
to  try  a  long  dive  right  out  through  the 
mouth  and  into  the  rocks.  We  may  get 
through,  and  it's  our  only  chance  ! " 

"Go  on,  then,  Will.  Hurry,  before  it's 
too  late !  And — have  an  eye  to  mother, 
won't  you?"  Here  a  sob  came  into 
Reube's  voice.  "  You  know  I'm  a  poor 
swimmer  and  no  diver.  Good-bye  ! "  and 
he  held  out  his  hand. 

But  Will  was  coolly  putting  on  his 
coat  again. 

"  I  forgot  that,"  said  he,  simply.  "  Well, 
we'll  find  some  other  way,  dear  old  man. 
Bring  along  your  matches  ;"  and  he  turned 
back  toward  the  depths  of  the  cave. 

For  answer  Reube  merely  gripped  his 
arm  with  a  strong  pressure  and  stepped 
ahead  with  a  lighted  match.  He  could 
not  urge  Will  to  carry  out  the  plan  just 
proposed  because  in  his  heart,  for  all  his 
confidence  in  Will's  powers  as  a  swim- 
mer, he  could  not  believe  it  feasible.  He 
saw,   in  imagination,   his  comrade's  bat- 


58 


REUBE  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


tered  body  washing  helplessly  amonj.^  the 
weedy  and  foaming  rocks;  while  in  the 
cave,  for  all  the  horror  of  it,  there  would 
certainly  be  some  hours  of  respite — and 
who  couM  say  w^hat  they  might  not  de- 
vise in  all  that  time?  He  had  a  marvel- 
ous faith  in  Will's  resources. 

In  grim  silence,  and  husbanding  every 
match  with  jealous  care,  they  explored 
the  main  cave  to  its  end.  Its  end  was  a 
horrid,  round,  wet  hole,  a  few  feet  deep, 
and  not  large  enough  to  admit  them  side 
by  side.  They  looked  each  other  fairly 
in  the  eyes  for  the  first  time  since  that 
one  glance  when  they  had  learned  that 
they  were  entrapped.  Reube's  eyes  were 
stern,  enduring — the  eyes  of  one  who  had 
known  life  long.  The  boy  had  all  gone 
out  of  them.  Will's  eyes  looked  simply 
quiet  and  kind,  but  his  mouth  was  set 
and  his  lips  w^ere  white. 

"  This  is  just  a  rat  hole,  Reube,"  said 
he.  "  We  won't  stay  here  anyway.  Seems 
to  me  it  would  be  better  to  have  room  to 
stand  up  and  meet  it  like  a  man." 


A   TRISON    IIOUSK. 


59 


"Yes,"  replied  Reube,  his  voice  chok- 
ing with  a  sort  of  exaltation  at  his  com- 
rade's courage;  "we'll  go  back  to  the 
little  gallery  with  the  high  roof.  We'll 
get  up  on  that  ledge  and  we'll  fight  it  out 
with  the  water  to  the  last  gasp,  eh  ?  It's 
pretty  tough — especially  for  mother  ! " 

"  Well,"  said  Will,  with  a  queer,  low 
tone  of  cheerfulness  which  seemed  to  his 
friend  to  mean  more  than  cries  and  tears, 
"  when  I  think  of  mother  and  Ted  it  sort 
of  comes  over  me  that  I'd  like  to  say  my 
prayers — eh  ?  "  and  for  a  minute  or  two, 
standing  shoulder  to  shoulder,  he  and 
Reube  leaned  their  faces  silently  against 
the  oozy  rock  in  the  darkness.  Then, 
lighting  another  match,  they  made  all 
haste  possible  back  to  the  side  gallery, 
ascended  it,  and  climbed  upon  the  ledge. 
Hardly  had  they  got  there  when  they 
heard  the  tide  whispering  stealthily 
about  the  entrance  of  the  passage.  They 
felt  that  it  was  marking  them  down  in 
their  new  retreat. 

When  the  next  match  blazed  up — for 


Il  ' 


11  i 


I.I. 


■1! 


60 


REUI3E   DARE  S    SHAD   BOAT. 


they  could  not  long  stand  the  darkness 
with  that  creeping  whisper  in  their  ears 
— Will  gazed  steadily  at  the  peak  of  the 
roof  above  his  head.    The  match  went  out. 

"  Another ! "  he  cried,  in  a  voice  that 
trembled  with  hope. 

"What  is  it.'^"  asked  Reube,  eagerly. 

"  Roots ! "  shouted  Will,  leaping  to  his 
feet.  "  Tree  roots  coming  through  the 
roof  up  there  !  We  must  be  near  the  sur- 
face, and  there  is  evidently  a  fissure  in 
the  rock  filled  up  with  earth.  We'll  dig 
our  way  out  with  our  knives  and  our 
fingers  yet !" 

"  But  there  are  no  trees  on  the  Point," 
urged  Reube,  doubtfully. 

"  Thunder,  Reube !  but  can't  there  be 
old  roots  in  the  soil?"  cried  Will,  im- 
patiently. "Dig,  man,  dig!"  And  he 
began  clawing  fiercely  at  the  earth  above 
his  head.  Reube  aided  him  with  fervent 
energy,  and  the  earth,  though  hard  and 
clayey,  came  down  about  them  in  a 
shower.  Presently  they  could  reach  no 
farther  up. 


\ 


A   PRISON  HOUSE. 


6i 


"  We  must  cut  footholds  in  this  rock," 
said  Will. 

The  rock  was  plaster,  but  hard,  and 
this  took  time.  When  it  was  accom- 
plished they  again  burrowed  rapidly 
toward  the  surface  and  air  and  light. 
They  were  working  in  the  dark  now,  be- 
cause with  the  rise  of  tide  in  the  cave  the 
air  was  growing  close  and  suffocating. 
Three  times  they  had  to  cut  new  foot- 
holds in  the  rock.  They  toiled  in  silence, 
hearing  only  each  other's  labored  breath 
and  the  fallinof  of  earth  into  the  water  be- 
neath  them.  The  tide  was  now  crawling 
over  the  ledge  where  they  had  first  taken 
refuge.  There  it  stopped  ;  but  this  they 
did  not  heed.  The  fear  of  suffocation 
was  now  upon  them,  blotting  out  the  fear 
of  drowning.  Their  eyes  and  ears  and 
nostrils  were  full  of  earth.  They  worked 
with  but  a  blind  half-knowledge  of  what 
they  were  doing.  All  at  once  there 
came  a  gleam  of  light,  and  Reube's  hand 
went  through  the  turf.     He  clawed  at  the 

sod  desperately,  and  a  mass  of  it  came 
5 


H 


n 


62 


REUBK  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


down  about  their  heads.  It  troubled 
them  not.  There  was  the  clear,  blue  sky 
above  them.  A  sweet  wind  caressed  their 
faces.  They  dragged  themselves  forth 
and  lay  at  full  length  on  the  turf  with 
shut  eyes  and  swelling  hearts. 


THE  BLUE  JAR. 


63 


CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Blue  Jar. 

TT  was  some  minutes  before  either  spoke. 
^  All  they  knew  was  that  they  were  once 
more  in  the  air  and  light.  Then,  with  a 
start,  Reube  sat  up  and  looked  about  him. 
He  looked,  of  course,  for  the  Dido.  To 
his  inexpressible  relief  the  cherished  craft 
was  there  in  plain  sight,  riding  safely  at 
her  anchor,  some  fifty  yards  from  shore. 
And  there,  farther  out,  rode  the  pinkie. 
Reube  blessed  his  comrade's  foresight. 

"  Will,  where  would  the  boats  be  now.^*" 
said  he,  "  if  you  hadn't  insisted  on  anchor- 
ing them?" 

Will  sat  up  and  surveyed  the  situation, 
thoughtfully  clearing  the  mud  from  his 
eyes  with  little  bunches  of  grass. 

"  It  was  just  as  well  we  anchored  them," 
he  assented.  "And  now  that  I've  got 
my  wind,  I  think  I  had  better  swim  out 
to  the  Dido  and  bring  her  in  for  you.     I 


/  / 


^ 


\ 


64 


KKUHK  DARK  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


feel  as  if  I  wanted  a  bath  anyway ;  don't 

"  I'll  be  with  you  in  half  a  minute,"  said 
Reube.  *'  But  first  I  want  to  explore  the 
cave  a  little  more.  It  seems  to  me  we 
came  away  in  something  of  a  hurry  ! " 

He  let  himself  cautiously  down  in  the 
hole,  feet  first. 

Will  stopped  his  undressing  and  stared 
at  him  in  amazement. 

"  Are  you  crazy  ?  "  he  cried.  "  Do  come 
out  of  that  beastly  hole  !  The  idea  of  it 
makes  me  quite  ill ! " 

"  O,  I  r.i  not  going  far,"  said  Reube, 
"and  I  won't  begone  long, either.  Don't 
be  alarmed." 

As  his  head  disappeared  Will  ran  to 
the  hole  and  looked  down,  anxiously  and 
curiously.  He  saw  Reube  groping  in  a 
crevice  filled  with  soft  earth,  about  three 
feet  below  the  surface. 

"  What  in  the  world  are  you  after, 
Reube?"  he  inquired. 

"  That ! "  replied  Reube  the  next  in- 
stant, holding  aloft  triumphantly  a  small 


THE   BLUFC    lAR. 


65 


blue  jar  of  earthenware.  "  Take  it,  and 
give  me  a  lift  out  of  this  ! " 

Will  deposited  the  old  jar  reverentially 
on  the  turf,  and  turned  to  help  Reube  up. 
He  half  expected  that  the  jar  would  van- 
ish while  his  back  was  toward  it;  but  no, 
there  it  was,  plain  and  palpable  enough. 
It  had  a  cover  set  into  the  rim, and  sealed 
around  the  edges  with  melted  rosin  ;  and 
it  was  heavy. 

Thrilling  with  suppressed  excitement, 
Reube  and  Will  sat  down  with  the  jar 
between  them,  and  Reube  proceeded  to 
chip  away  the  rosin  with  his  knife.  Will 
gazed  at  the  operation  intently. 

"  Probably  some  good  old  Evangeline's 
pet  jar  of  apple  sauce ! "  said  he. 

Reube  ignored  this  levity,  and  chipped 
away  with  irritating  deliberation.  At  last 
off  came  the  cover.  As  it  did  so  there 
was  a  most  thrilling  jingling  within,  and 
the  boys  leaned  forward  with  such  eager- 
ness that  their  heads  bumped  violently 
together.  They  saw  stars,  but  heeded 
them  not,  for  in  the  mouth  of  the  jar  they 


66 


KKUIJE  DARE  S    SHAD   HOAT. 


!!! 


I 


I 


saw  the  yellow  glint  of  a  number  of  gold 
coins. 

"Well,  dreams  do  sometimes  come 
true!"  remarked  Will.  And  Reube, 
spreading  out  Will's  coat,  which  lay  close 
at  hand,  emptied  upon  it  the  whole  con- 
tents of  the  jar. 

It  was  coin — all  coin  !  There  were  a 
few  golden  Louis,  a  number  of  Spanish 
pieces,  with  silver  crowns  and  livres 
Tournois,  amounting,  according  to  such 
hasty  estimate  as  the  boys  could  make,  to 
some  five  or  six  hundred  dollars. 

"  That'll  be  three  hundred  dollars 
apiece,"  said  Reube,  with  eyes  sparkling; 
"and  I'll  be  able  to  take  mother  to  Bos- 
ton and  oro  to  collciye  too !" 

"Three  hundred  dollars  apiece!"  said 
Will.  "  Indeed,  I  don't  see  what  I  had 
to  do  with  it.  You  found  it.  You  had 
nerve  enouoh  to  take  notice  of  it  when 
you  were  more  than  three  quarters  dead. 
And  you  went  back  and  got  it.  I've  no 
earthly  claim  upon  it,  old  m.an. " 

Reube  set  his  jaw  obstinately. 


^\ 


" 


It-  ! 

% 

5" 


r 


If 


€# 


y 


THE   BLUE   JAR. 


69 


'•  Will,"  said  he,  "  we  were  exploring  the 
cave  in  partnership.  If  you  had  found 
the  stuff,  I'd  have  expected  my  share. 
Now,  you've  got  to  go  shares  with  me  in 
this,  or  I  give  you  my  word  our  friend- 
ship ends ! " 

"  O,  don't  get  on  your  dignity  that  way, 
Reube,"  said  Will.  "  If  I  must,  why,  I 
suppose  I  must !  And  if  I  can't  take  a 
present  from  you,  I  don't  see  whom  I 
could  take  one  from.  But  I  won't  take 
half,  because  I  didn't  do  half  toward  get- 
ting it,  and  because  you  need  it  enough 
sight  more  than  I  do.  A  couple  of  years 
ago  I'd  have  spoken  differently.  But  I'll 
divide  with  you,  and  as  to  the  proportions, 
we'll  settle  that  on  the  way  home.  Now 
I'm  off  for  the  Dido!''  And  having 
thrown  off  his  clothes  as  he  talked,  he 
ran  down  the  bank  and  plunged  into  the 


sea. 


"  I'll  let  you  off  with  one  third,"  shouted 
Reube  after  him,  as  he  sat  on  the  bank 
and  watched.     "  Not  one  penny  less  !" 

"  All  right,"  spluttered  Will,  breasting 


<l 


70 


1T<» 


IciEUBE   DARE  S    SHAD   BOAT. 


1^ 


)! 


a  white-crested,  yellow  wave.  In  a  few 
minutes  he  was  on  board  th^Dido.  Pulling 
up  the  anchor  and  hoisting  the  sail,  he 
brought  her  in  beside  a  jutting  plaster  rock 
which  formed  a  natural  quay.  Then  he 
resumed  his  clothes,  while  Reube  took 
his  place  at  the  helm. 

The  wind  being  still  down  the  bay  and 
the  tide  on  the  turn,  they  decided  not  to 
attempt  the  all-night  task  of  beating  up 
against  it.  It  took  them,  indeed,  two  tacks 
to  reach  the  pinkie.  Will  went  aboard 
the  latter  craft,  leavincr  Reube  in  his  dar- 
ling  D/do.  The  two  boats  tacked  pa- 
tiently back  and  forth,  in  and  out  of  the 
wide  cove,  till  they  gained  the  shelter  of 
a  little  creek  under  the  lea  of  Wood  Point. 
Here  they  were  secured  with  anxious  care. 
Then  Will  and  Reube  started  for  home 
by  the  road,  pricked  on  to  haste  by  the 
thought  of  how  their  mothers  would  be 
worrying,  by  the  sharp  demands  of  their 
empty  stomachs,  and  by  the  elating  clink 
of  the  coins  that  filled  their  pockets. 
When  they  reached  Mrs.  Dare's   cottage 


••4 


THE  BLUE  JAR. 


;i 


Reube  rushed  in  to  relieve  his  mother's 
fears,  for  she  had  indeed  begun  to  be 
anxious.  Will  hurried  on  toward  Frosty 
Hollow,  munching  a  piece  of  Mrs.  Dare's 
gingerbread  by  the  way. 

As  he  trudged  forward  cheerfully,  he 
was  overtaken  by  an  express  wagon  bound 
for  "the  Corners."  The  driver  offered 
him  a  "lift,"  as  the  phrase  goes  about 
Tantramar.  It  was  none  other  than  Jerry 
Barnes,  the  master  of  the  red  bull,  and 
the  owner  of  the  pinkie  which  Will  and 
Reube  had  so  boldly  appropriated.  Will 
told  him  the  whole  story,  omitting  only 
the  discovery  of  the  jar  of  coin.  He  and 
Reube  had  agreed  to  keep  their  counsel 
on  this  point,  lest  some  should  envy  their 
good  luck  and  others  doubt  their  story. 

"I  hope,"  said  Will,  "you  are  not  put 
out  at  our  taking  the  pinkie.?" 

"I  hope,"  grinned  Barnes,  "you're  not 
put  out  at  old  Ramses  for  bein'  so  oncivil 
in  the  pastur' !  But  as  for  the  pinkie,  of 
course  you  did  quite  right.  Only  I'll  want 
you  chaps  to  get  her  back  to  the  creek  by 


72 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


it 


to-morrow  mornin's  tide,  as  I'm  goin'  to 
drift  for  shad  to-morrow  night !" 

"  Of  course,"  said  Will ;  "  w^e'll  go  after 
her  the  first  thing  in  the  morning.  That's 
just  what  we  planned  on." 

"  That  there's  a  smart  boat  Reube 
Dare's  built.  And  he's  a  right  smart  lad, 
is  Reube,"  remarked  Jerry  Barnes. 

"  There's  where  your  head's  level," 
agreed  Will,  warmly. 

"  And  do  you  know  when  he's  goin'  to 
drift  ?  "  asked  Barnes. 

"He  won't  be  quite  ready  for  to-mor- 
row night,"  said  Will.  "  But  we  count  on 
getting  out  the  night  following." 

"  Well,  now,  a  word  in  your  ear ! "  went 
on  Barnes,  leaning  over  confidentially. 
"  I've  no  manner  of  doubt  Mart  Gandy 
cut  the  DiWo  loose.  And  now  Reube  had 
better  keep  his  eye  on  his  nets  after 
the  boats  get  away  to-morrow  night.  I 
shouldn't  wonder  a  mite  if  Gandy  'd  try 
slashinof  'em,  so  as  to  o^ive  Reube  an  un- 
pleasant  surprise  when  he  starts  out  for 
the  Didds  first  fishing." 


THE   BLUE    TAR. 


73 


"  I  say,"  said  Will,  •'  1  never  thought  of 
that !  We'll  '  lay '  for  him,  so  to  speak, 
and  give  him  a  lesson  if  he  tries  it  on." 

"  A  nod's  as  good  as  a  wink,"  remarked 
Jerry  Barnes,  mysteriously,  as  he  set  Will 
down  at  Mrs.  Carter's  door. 

Mrs.  Carter  had  not  been  at  all  anxious. 
Ever  since  Will's  reclamation  of  the  new 
marsh  she  had  had  an  implicit  faith  in 
his  ability  and  judgment.  She  had  im- 
agined that  he  was  spending  the  day  with 
Reube.  She  rather  lost  her  dignified  self- 
control  over  Will's  story  of  the  adventure 
in  the  cave,  and  she  was  filled  with  girl- 
ish excitement  over  the  finding  of  the  old 
blue  jar. 

"Of  course,  dearest  boy,"  said  Mrs. 
Carter,  "  you  did  quite  right  to  want  Reu- 
ben to  take  all  the  treasure,  since  he  alone 
found  it.  But  where  would  he  have  been 
but  for  you  }  Reuben  is  a  fine  boy,  if  his 
orrandfather  didn't  amount  to  much.  He 
takes  after  his  mother's  family  the  most. 
I'm  glad  he  made  you  take  a  share  of 
these  lovely  old  coins." 


IH. 


|v 


13  i  I, 


it 


If 


74 


I7«'t' 


RKUHE  DARKS  SHAD  BOAT. 


"  We'll  be  able  to  have  some  sort  of  a 
jolly  lark  on  the  strength  of  it  when  Ted 
comes  home,"  said  Will. 

'•  We  might  take  a  run  to  Boston ! "  sug- 
gested his  mother.  "  I  want  you  boys  to 
see  the  city  ;  I  want  to  see  it  myself.  And 
I  might — Mrs.  Dare,  you  know,  might 
want  a  friend  near  her  if  the  operation 
proves   at   all    serious,  which   I    hope  it 


won  t. 


"  You  dear,  that's  just  like  your  thought- 
fulness!"  cried  Will,  jumping  up  and  kiss- 
ing her.  And  so  it  was  agreed  upon, 
subject,  in  a  measure,  to  Ted's  assent. 


MART   GANDY   HACKS   THE   SHAD   NKT.      75 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Mart  Gandy  Hacks  the  Shad  Net. 

TOURING  the  next  forenoon  th^Dido 
^^    and  the  pinkie  were    sailed  up  to 
their  old  berths  in  the  creek.    Thatnii^ht 
all  the  boats  went  out  except  the  Dido, 
fading   like  ghosts  into  the  misty,  half- 
moonlit    dusk.     Reube  was   very  indig- 
nant at   the  thought   that  Gandy  might 
attack   his   shad    net,  and  vowed,   if  he 
caught  him  at  it,  to  clap  him  in  jail.    Mrs. 
Dare  had  made  the  boys  take  a  pair  of 
heavy  blankets  with  them,  and,  stretched 
on  these,  they  lay  along  the  seat  in  the 
Didds  stern,  just  under  the  shelter  of  the 
gunwale.      The  reel,  with  its  dark  bur- 
den of  net,  rose  a  few  feet  away,  and 
stood  out  black  but  vague  against  the 
paler  sky.     Close  at  hand  lay  the  wharf, 
like  a  crouching  antediluvian  monster, 
with  its  fore  paws  plunged  into  the  tide. 
From  where    they    lay   our.  watchers 
commanded  a  view  of  the  surrounding 


Blli 


;; 


M 


H 


4 


ii 


r 


!)  :t 


76 


KEUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


levels  by  merely  lifting  their  heads.  In 
low  but  eager  tones  they  discussed  the 
Boston  trip  planned  for  the  coming  au- 
tumn, and  Reube  squeezed  his  comrade  s 
hand  gratefully  when  he  heard  what  com- 
pany he  and  his  mother  would  have. 

"  I  can  never  tell  your  mother  my  grat- 
itude," said  he.  "  With  her  there  my 
anxiety  will  be  more  than  half  gone." 

"I'm  so  glad  muzz  thought  of  it!" 
said  Will.  "  I'm  sure  it  would  never  have 
entered  my  heedless  head.  And  yet  it  is 
just  the  thing  for  us  to  do." 

Another  subject  of  their  excited  collo- 
quy was  the  disposal  of  those  old  coins. 
If  deposited  at  the  Barchester  Bank  they 
would  certainly  arouse  comment  and  set 
all  sorts  of  romantic  stories  going.  But 
presently  Will  thought  of  his  friend  Mr. 
Hand,  to  whom  all  things  in  the  way  of 
financial  management  seemed  possible. 
It  was  decided  that  on  the  very  next  day 
Will  should  take  the  whole  store  to  him 
and  get  him  to  send  it  away  for  conver- 
sion into  modern  currency. 


?: 


MART  GANDY  HACKS  THE   SHAD  NET.   77 


"  And  he'll  be  able  to  see  that  we  don't 
get  cheated,"  added  Will.  "  I  fancy  some 
of  those  coins  will  be  wanted  by  collect- 
ors, and  so  be  worth  a  lot  more  than 
their  face  value." 

*•  I  tell  you,  Will,"  exclaimed  Reube, "  I 
can't  even  yet  quite  get  over  my  aston- 
ishment at  the  way  you  swear  by  old 
Hand  ;  or,  perhaps  I  should  rather  say, 
at  the  way  the  old  fellow  seems  to  be  de- 
veloping qualities  of  which  he  was  never 
suspected  until  you  begun  to  thaw  him 

A.    " 

out. 

"Indeed,"  said  Will,  warmly,  "Mr. 
Hand  is  fine  stuff.  He  was  like  a  piece 
of  gold  hidden  in  a  mass  of  very  refrac- 
tory ore.  But  Toddles  melted  him  down 
all  right." 

In  a  short  time  conversation  flagged, 
and  then,  listening  to  the  lip-lip-lipping 
of  the  softly  falling  tide  and  the  mellow 
far-off  roar  of  the  waters  pouring  through 
an  aboideaux,  both  the  watchers  grew 
drowsy.  At  last  Will  was  asleep.  Even 
Reube's  brain  was  getting  entangled  with 
6 


I 


7« 


KKUBE    dark's    SHAD    T'.OAT. 


Ir! 


•I 


ii 


confused  and  flectin"^  visions  when  he  was 
brought  sharply  to  himself  by  the  queer 
sucking  sound  of  footsteps  in  the  mud. 

He  raised  his  head  and  peered  over 
the  gunwale.  There  was  Mart  Gandy 
within  ten  paces  of  the  net  reel.  He  had 
come  by  way  of  the  dike.  In  his  hand 
gleamed  the  polished  curve  of  the  sickle 
with  which  he  was  accustomed  to  reap 
his  buckwheat,  and  Reube's  blood  boiled 
at  the  thought  of  that  long,  keen  blade 
working  havoc  in  the  meshes  of  his  cher- 
ished nets.  Gandy  marched  straight  up 
to  the  reel,  raised  the  sickle,  and  slashed 
viciously  at  the  mass  of  woven  twine. 

Ere  he  could  repeat  the  stroke  a  yell 
of  wrath  rang  in  his  ear  and  Reube  was 
upon  him,  hurling  him  to  the  ground. 
His  deadly  weapon  flew  from  his  grasp, 
and  he  was  too  startled  to  make  much 
resistance.  The  weio^ht  of  Reube's  knee 
on  his  chest,  the  clutch  of  Reube's  stronij 
fingers  at  his  throat,  took  all  the  fight 
out  of  him.  He  looked  up  with  angry 
and  frightened  eyes  and  saw  Will  stand- 


MART  CANDY  HACKS  THE  SHAD  NET.   79 


ing  by,  a  meaning  smile  on  his  lips  and  a 
heavy  tarred  rope's  end  in  his  hand. 

Reube  rubbed  the  culprit's  head  rudely 
in  the  mud,  and  then  relaxed  the  grip 
•  upon  his  gasping  throat. 

"  I  cannot  pound  the  scoundrel  now 
that  I've  got  him  down,"  said  he,  turning 
his  face  toward  Will.  "What  shall  we 
do  with  him  }  You  can't  lather  a  chap 
that  doesn't  resist  and  that  has  his  head 
down  in  the  mud.     It's  brutal ! " 

"  We'll  tie  his  hands  to  the  reel  and 
give  him  a  taste  of  this  rope's  end,"  sug- 
gested Will,  judiciously. 

"  I  don't  exactly  like  that  either,"  said 
Reube,  rubbing  his  captive's  head  again 
in  the  slime.  "  It's  too  much  like  play- 
ing hangman.  He  deserves  the  cat- 
o'-nine-tails  if  ever  a  scoundrel  did,  but  I 
don't  like  the  dirty  work  of  applying  it. 
We'd  better  just  take  him  to  jail.  Then 
he'll  get  a  term  in  the  penitentiary,  and 

Fetch 


way 


years. 


me  that  cod  line  out  of  the  cuddy,  will 


'OU? 


»> 


8o 


KEUIJK   DAKE  S    SHAD   T.OAT. 


M 


Hy  this  time  Mart  Gancly  had  found 
his  voice.  That  word  '  penitentiary  "  had 
reduced  him  to  an  abject  state  of  terror, 
and  he  began  to  plead  piteously  for 
mercy. 

"  Lick  me  !  Lick  me  all  you  like  !  "  he 
cried,  in  his  queer,  high  voice.  "  I  kin 
take  a  hidin';  but  don't  send  me  to  the 
penitentiary  !  What  'd  the  old  man  do, 
as  hain't  got  his  right  senses  no  more? 
An'  the  old  woman  'd  jest  plumb  starve, 
for  the  gals  they  ain't  a  mite  o'  good  to 
work.  Le'  me  off  this  time,  Reube  Dare, 
'n'  I  declare  I  won't  never  do  it  ag'in ! " 

Mart's  imploring  voice  more  than  his 
words  made  Reube  weaken  in  his  pur- 
pose. As  for  Mart's  promise,  he  put  no 
faith  in  that,  and  marked  on  Will's  face  an 
unrelenting  grin.     Nevertheless  he  said  : 

"  There's  something  in  what  the  rascal 
says.  Will.  If  Mart  goes  to  the  peniten- 
tiary his  family's  going  to  suffer  more 
than  he.  I've  a  mind  to  let  him  off  this 
time,  after  all." 

"  Well,"  grunted  Will,  "just  as  you  say. 


MART   GANDY    HACKS   TIIK   SHAD    NKT.      8 1 


But  it  would  be  nothin*^  short  of  iniqui- 
tous to  let  him  off  altogether.  You'd 
better  give  him  a  good  ducking,  to  let 
him  know  you're  in  earnest,  anyway." 

Reube  pondered  this  a  moment. 

"Mart  Gandy,"  he  said,  sternly,  "I'm 
going  to  let  you  off  this  time  with  noth- 
ing more  than  a  ducking,  to  fix  the  cir- 
cumstance in  your  mind.  But  remember, 
if  I  find  you  again  at  any  of  your  old 
pranks  I'll  have  a  warrant  out  against 
you  that  very  day!  And  I've  got  all  the 
evidence  needed  to  convict  you.  Now 
get  up  ! "  And  he  jerked  the  lanky  and 
bedraggled  form  to  its  feet. 

Mart,  with  the  fear  of  prison  walls  no 
longer  chilling  his  heart,  had  recovered 
himself  during  this  harangue,  and  his 
eyes  gleamed  with  a  furtive,  half-wild 
hate.  Still  he  made  no  resistance.  The 
sickle  lay  far  beyond  his  reach,  and  he 
knew  he  was  physically  no  match  for 
either  Reube  or  Will.  He  was  led  to  the 
very  edge  of  the  steep,  slippery  incline 
of  the    channel,    wherein    the    tide   had 


t 


82 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


ii 


]•     II 


dropped  about  fifteen  feet.  Will  snatched 
a  coil  of  rope  out  of  the  boat. 

"  Can  you  swim  }  "  he  asked,  curtly. 

"  No,"  said  the  fellow,  eyeing  him  side- 
wise. 

"He  is  lying,"  remarked  Reube,  in  a 
businesslike  voice. 

•'  Well,"  said  Will,  "  if  he  isn't  lying 
we'll  fish  him  out  again,  that's  all." 

Just  as  he  was  speaking,  and  while 
Candy's  eyes  were  fixed  upon  his  face 
with  an  evil  light  in  them,  Reube  stepped 
forward  and  executed  a  certain  dexterous 
trip  of  which  he  was  master.  Candy's 
heels  flew  out  over  the  brink,  his  head 
went  back,  and,  feet  foremost,  he  shot 
like  lightning  down  the  slope  and  into 
the  stream. 

In  a  moment  he  came  to  the  surface 
and  began  floundering  and  struggling 
like  a  drowning  man. 

"  He's  putting  that  all  on,"  said  Reube. 

"  Maybe  not,"  exclaimed  Will.  "  Better 
throw  him  the  end  of  the  rope  now." 

Reube  smiled  gravely,  but  obeyed,  and 


MART  GANDY  HACKS  THE  SHAD  NET.   83 


a  coil  fell  almost  in  Gandy's  arms.  The 
struggling  man  seemed  too  bewildered  to 
catch  it.  He  grasped  at  it  wildly,  sank, 
rose,  sank,  and  rose  again.  Will  pre- 
pared to  jump  in  and  rescue  him.  But 
Reube  interposed. 

"  No,  you  don't,"  said  he,  coolly  ;  "  not 
without  one  end  of  this  rope  round  your 
waist  and  me  hanging  onto  the  other 
end!" 

"  Make  haste,  then, "  cried  Will,  in  some 
anxiety. 

In  a  few  seconds  the  rope  was  knotted 
firmly  about  Will's  waist,  and  he  sprang 
into  the  water.  Even  as  he  did  so  the 
apparently  drowning  man  disappeared. 
He  came  up  again  many  feet  away,  and, 
swimming  with  wonderful  speed,  gained 
the  opposite  bank.  He  clambered  nim- 
bly up  the  slope  and  started  at  a  run 
across  the  marsh.  Reube,  with  derisive 
compliments,  helped  the  dripping  and 
disgusted  Will  to  shore  again. 

"  I  saw  his  game,"  said  he,  while  Will 
wrung  out  his  clothes.     "  He's  just  like  a 


I 


84 


REUBE  DARE  S  SMAD  BOAT. 


I. 


1!,^'' 


fish  in  the  water,  and  he  thought  he'd 
make  believe  he  was  drowning,  and  so 
manage  to  drag  you  down  without  get- 
ting blamed  for  it.  But  he  knew  the 
game  was  up  when  he  heard  what  I  said 
and  saw  you  had  the  rope  tied  to  you." 

"  Right  you  are  this  time,  old  man," 
said  Will. 

The  sky  had  cleared  perfectly,  and  in 
the  radiant  moonlight  Reube's  skillful 
fingers  quickly  mended  the  net.  The  cut 
was  not  a  deep  one,  as  the  blade  had 
been  stopped  by  two  of  the  large  wooden 
floats  with  which  the  net  was  beaded. 
The  mending  done  and  the  net  made 
ready  for  the  next  night's  fishing,  the 
boys  turned  their  faces  toward  the  up- 
lands to  seek  a  few  hours'  sleep  at  Mrs. 
Dare's. 

Meanwhile  Mart  Gandy  had  never 
ceased  running  till  he  got  behind  an  old 
barn  which  hid  him  from  the  scene  of  his 
punishment.  Then  he  turned  and  shook 
his  long,  dark  finger  in  silent  fury  toward 
the  spot  where  his  antagonists  were  work- 


MART  GANDY  HACKS  THE  SHAD  NET.   85 

ing.  When  he  reached  home  he  crept 
to  a  loft  in  the  shed  and  drew  out  a  lonsf, 
heavy  musket,  once  a  flintlock,  which  he 
had  altered  to  a  percussion  lock,  so  th;it 
it  made  an  effective  weapon  for  duck 
shooting.  This  gun  he  loaded  with  a 
heavy  charge  of  powder  and  a  liberal  pro- 
portion of  bucksliot.  He  muttered  over 
his  task  till  it  was  done  to  his  satisfac- 
tion, and  then  stole  off  to  sleep  in  the 
barn. 


I 


ill 


86 


REUBE   DARES    SHAD   1K)AT. 


;:• 


If  < 

I' 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  Midnight  Visitor. 

"p  EUBE  and  Will  did  not  go  shad 
-^^  fishing  the  next  night,  after  all.  A 
fierce  sou'wester  blew  up  toward  evening, 
and  drifting  for  shad  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Every  boat  was  made  secure  with 
extra  care,  and  all  night  the  fury  of  an 
unusually  high  tide  put  the  Tantramar 
and  Westcock  dikes  to  the  test.  They 
stood  the  trial  nobly,  for  well  had  their 
builders  done  their  work. 

The  Dares*  wide-winged  cottage,  set 
in  a  hollow  of  the  hill,  was  little  jarred 
by  the  gusts  that  volleyed  down  upon  it. 
Havine  seen  the  Dido  well  secured  be- 
hind  the  little  wharf,  Reube  felt  alto- 
gether at  ease. 

"  Are  you  quite  sure,"  asked  Mrs. 
Dare  that  evening,  "  that  Gandy  won't 
make  another  attack  on  the  shad  boat  or 
the  net  ?  " 

"  O    yes,    mother,"    answered    Reube; 


I 


A   MIDNIGHT   VISITOR. 


87 


"  I'm  no  longer  anxious  on  that  score. 
Mart  feels  madder  than  ever,  I've  no 
doubt,  and  I  think  he'd  have  tried  to 
drown  Will  last  night  if  I  had  left  him 
half  a  chance.  But  he  is  just  mortally 
afraid  of  the  penitentiary,  and,  now  he 
knows  we  can  prove  a  case  against  him, 
I  imagine  he'll  bottle  his  wrath  for  a 
while." 

"  Well,  dear,  I  hope  you  are  right," 
said  his  mother.  "  But  I  must  say  I 
think  Mart  Gandy  is  more  dangerous 
than  you  give  him  credit  for  being.  I 
want  you  to  be  very  careful  how  you  go 
about  alone  at  night.  I  know  that  blood, 
and  how  it  craves  for  veneeance.  Be 
watchful,  Reube,  and  don't  make  the 
mistake  of  undervaluing  your  enemy." 

"  No,  mother,  I  won't,"  answered 
Reube.  **  I  know  that  wise  head  of 
yours  is  generally  in  the  right.  If  you 
think  I  ought  to  keep  my  weather  eye 
open,  why,  open  I  will  keep  it,  I  promise 
you.  And  now  it's  my  turn  !  What 
were  you  doing  out  so  late  alone,  when 


1 


U  t 


I 


v<t 


pi 

¥  i- 

m 
m 


i^ii 


I! 

V 


'1 


If 


88 


REUBE  DARE'S    SHAD    IJOAT. 


it  was  almost  dark,  with  those  poor  eyes 
that  can't  see  much  even  in  broad  day- 
light ?  " 

"  I  know  it  was  imprudent,  Reube,  and 
I  did  have  some  trouble  getting  home," 
confessed  Mrs.  Dare.  "  But,  dear,  I 
couldn't  help  it.  I  heard  quite  late  in  the 
afternoon  that  Jim  Paul  was  on  a  spree 
again,  after  keeping  steady  for  a  whole 
year.  He  has  been  drinking  hard  for  a 
week — drunk  all  the  time — and  his  wife 
sick  in  bed,  and  nothing  to  eat  in  the 
house.  I  went  riirht  down  with  a  basket, 
and  I  was  glad  I  went.  The  children  were 
crying  with  hunger.  And  such  a  house ! 
And  Mrs.  Paul  lying  on  the  floor,  white 
as  a  ghost,  where  she  had  just  fallen  ! 
She  had  got  out  of  bed  and  tried  to 
make  some  porridge  for  the  children — 
there  was  nothing  in  die  house  but  a 
little  corn  meal.  Her  husband  was  out, 
and  she  was  trembling  witi:  fear  lest  he 
should  return  in  a  drunken  frenzy  and 
beat  them  all.  Poor  woman!  And  Jim 
Paul  is  a  good  husband  and  fathtr  when 


■  i 


A   MIDNIGHT   VISITOR. 


89 


he  is  sober.  You  see,  Reube,  it  took 
me  a  long  while,  blind  as  I'm  getting, 
to  find  the  children  and  straighten  things 
up. 

"  Well,  mother,  this  autumn,  if  all  goes 
well,"  said  Reube,  cheerfully,  "  we'll  get 
the  poor  eyes  fixed  as  good  as  new. 
And  then  you  may  stay  out  late  some- 
times without  me  scolding  you." 

That  night,  when  Reube  and  his 
mother  were  sleeping  soundly,  they  were 
roused  by  a  crash  which  the  roaring  of 
the  wind  could  not  drown.  It  seemed  to 
shake  the  whole  house.  Reube  sprang 
out  of  bed.  As  he  dragged  on  his  trou- 
sers his  mother  came  to  the  door  with  a 
lamp  in  her  hand. 

"  What  is  it,  mother  }  "  he  asked,  rub- 
bing his  eyes. 

"  Some  one  has  broken  in  the  outer 
door,"  replied  Mrs.  Dare,  calmly.  "  He 
is  in  the  back  kitchen  now,  but  the  inner 
door  is  bolted." 

Reube  took  the  lamp  from  her  hand 
and  started  down  stairs. 


,'  •, 


i'* 


• 


Mi 


!'■  !■   Ill ' 
-^   111- 

■1 


I    II 

S     III 


•  Hi 


^  i 


^1   ■lii     i 


90 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


"  O,  my  boy,  what  are  you  doing  ?  You 
have  no  weapon.     O,  if  only  we  had —  " 

But  Reube  interrupted  these  words, 
which  now  had  an  all-unwonted  tremor 
in  them. 

•'  Nothing  else  to  be  done,  mother,"  he 
said,  quietly.  "  Don't  be  scared !  He 
won't  bother  me,  whoever  he  is  !  "  And 
as  his  mother  looked  at  him  she  felt 
strangely  reassured.  Or,  perhaps  it  was 
something  in  his  voice  which  satisfied 
her.  She  snatched  up  her  big  Paisley 
shawl,  flung  it  over  her  nightgown,  and 
followed  Reube  at  a  discreet  distance. 

Reube  opened  a  door  leading  from  the 
hall  to  the  inner  kitchen.  At  the  same 
moment  the  door  between  the  two 
kitchens  was  battered  In  with  a  loud 
crash,  and  there  entered  a  terrifying 
apparition.  It  was  Jim  Paul,  drunk,  and 
with  a  wild  glitter  in  his  bloodshot  eyes. 
His  face  and  huge,  burly  form  were 
stained  with  the  blood  of  various  fights. 


an 


d  h 


e  earn  PC 


1   in  his  hand  tn 


e  ax  w 


ith 


which  he  had  broken  down  the  doors. 


A   MIDNIGHT   VISITOR. 


91 


Jim  Pauls  appearance  was  well  calcu- 
lated to  daunt  an  older  heart  than 
Reube's,  but  Reube's  heart  was  of  a 
dauntless  fiber.  A  cold,  steady  light 
seemed  to  shine  from  his  pale  eyes  as 
they  met  the  fierce  and  feverish  gaze  of 
the  intruder,  who  promptly  stopped  and 
glanced  aside  uneasily.  Reube's  mouth 
and  broad  brow,  usually  so  boyish, 
looked  as  grim  as  iron  as  he  stepped  up 
coolly  to  the  drunken  giant  and  asked 
him  what  he  meant  by  breaking  into  the 
house. 

Paul  hesitated,  beginning  to  quail  be- 
fore the  stronger  will  that  confronted 
him. 

"  Give  me  that  ax ! "  said  Reube, 
quietly. 

Paul  handed  over  the  weapon  with 
most  prompt  and  deferential  obedience, 
and  began  to  stammer  an  inarticulate 
apology.  Reube  kept  eyeing  him  with- 
out another  word,  and  Paul  orrew  anxious 
and  worried  under  the  gaze.  At  last  he 
plunged  his  great  hand  deep  down  into 


i 
.'     i 


f: 


i:  I 


•'tM 


92 


REUKE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


I   I 


i 


ll  .■ 


m    i 


p  i« 


his  trousers  pocket  and  drew  forth  a  lot 
of  silver  and  copper  coins.  These  he 
pressed  Reube  to  accept,  presently  break- 
ing into  maudlin  protestations  of  esteem. 

Reube  turned  away  abruptly,  having 
made  up  his  mind  what  to  do  with  his 
troublesome  guest.  He  set  the  lamp  on 
a  shelf,  and  then  took  the  money  which 
Paul  still  held  out. 

'*  I'll  take  care  of  it  till  youVe  sober 
enough  to  put  it  to  its  proper  use,"  said  he. 

The  big  fellow  was  by  this  time  on  the 
verge  of  tears,  and  ejaculating  a  host  of 
promises.  He  wouldn't  touch  another 
drop,  and  he'd  mend  both  the  doors  so 
they'd  be  just  as  good  as  new  ;  and  he'd 
never  forget  Reube's  goodness  in  not 
having  him  taken  up  for  a  burglar,  and 
he'd  go  right  home  to  his  poor  family. 

"No  you  don't,  Jim!"  interrupted 
Reube  at  this  point.  "  You'll  stay  right 
here  where  I  put  you  for  the  rest  of  this 
night.  And  you'll  go  home  to  your  fam- 
ily in  the  morning  if  you're  sober  enough, 
but  not  otherwise." 


A   MIDNIGHT  VISITOR. 


93 


At  this  Paul  began  to  protest.  But 
paying  no  more  heed  to  his  words  than 
if  he  had  been  a  naughty  child,  Reube 
led  him  to  a  small  room  opening  off  the 
kitchen.  The  window  of  this  room  was 
a  tiny  affair  through  which  a  man  of 
Paul's  bulk  could  not  manage  to  squeeze. 
Reube  got  a  couple  of  heavy  buffalo 
robes,  spread  them  on  the  floor,  and  told 
Paul  to  lie  down  on  them.  Then,  bid- 
ding him  sleep  soundly  and  feel  better 
in  the  morning,  Reube  locked  him  in 
and  went  to  bed.  But  he  took  the  pre- 
caution to  carry  the  ax  up  stairs  with 
him.     His  mother  said  simply: 

"  You  managed  the  poor  fellow  beauti- 
fully, my  dear  boy.  I  was  glad  you  were 
not  forced  to  be  rough  with  him." 

Reube  smiled  inwardly  at  his  mother's 
magnificent  faith  in  his  powers,  but  all  he 
said  was : 

"  Good  night,  mother  dear.  He's  all 
right  where  he  is  now,  and  I'll  have  a  talk 
with  him  in  the  morning." 

In  the  morning  Paul  had  fairly  sobered 


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REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


-if,  i 


►  t 


■  ^ 


up.  He  was  genuinely  ashamed  of  him- 
self. After  making  him  eat  some  break- 
fast Reube  gave  him  back  his  money 
and  sent  him  home.  As  he  was  leaving 
the  house  he  turned  to  say  something, 
but  seeing  Mrs.  Dare  within  earshot  he 
hesitated.  Reube  followed  him  to  the 
gate.     There  he  stopped  and  said : 

"  I  know  I  was  just  crazy  drunk  las' 
night,  but  I  kinder  reck*lect  what  hap- 
pened. When  we  wuz  all  drinkin'  down 
to  Simess,  an'  I'd  licked  three  or  four  of 
the  fellers.  Mart  Gandy  says,  says  he, 
*  There's  a  lad  hereabouts  as  yer  cain't 
lick,  Jim  Paul,  an'  him  only  a  kid,  too!' 
In  course  I  fires  up,  and  says  I,  'Show 
him  to  me,  an'  I'll  show  yous  all ! '  Some 
more  words  passed,  till  I  was  that  riled  I 
was  blind,  an'  then  Mart  Gandy  says, 
says  he,  *  Yer  cain't  lick  Reube  Dare!' 
Off  I  started  to  once't,  an*  you  know's 
well's  I  do  that  I'd  never  'a'  lifted  a 
finger  aein  this  house   ef   I   hadn't  bin 


agm 


jest    blind    crazy !       But    I'll    remember 
what  I  might  'a'  done  ef  you  hadn't  jest 


'  ll!il 


I 


im 


A  MIDNIGHT  VISITOR. 


95 


bin  able  to  make  me  mind ;  an'  'fore 
God,  rii  try  to  keep  straight.  But  you 
mark  my  words.  Look  out  fer  that  ther 
Gandy !  He's  up  ter  mischief,  an'  he 
ain't  the  one  to  stick  at  anything." 

"Thank  you,  Jim,"  answered  Reube, 
holding  out  his  hand.  "  We'll  say  no 
more  about  last  night,  but  I'll  remember 
your  warning,  and  I  want  you  to  remem- 
ber the  promise  you've  just  made  me  !  " 


I 


f 

1", 


Ml* 
'  it 


Ml 


g6 


»-•' 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  Dido's  First  Fishing  Trip. 

TIM  PAUL'S  warning  made  an  impres- 
•^  sion  on  Reube's  mind.  When  Will 
Carter  heard  of  it  he  exclaimed : 

"  That  fits  in  with  my  own  ideas  exactly, 
Reube  !  There's  some  alien  streak  in  that 
Gandy's blood  that  makes  him  more  likely 
to  knife  you  in  the  back  than  fight  you  to 
your  face  ;  and  that  being  a  kind  of  enemy 
you  don't  understand,  you've  got  to  be  all 
the  more  careful,  old  man." 

"  Well,"  said  Reube,  thoughtfully, "  what 
is  one  to  do  about  it  anyway?" 

"  Why,  look  sharp  for  a  chance  to  get 
the  scoundrel  locked  up,  even  if  his  fam- 
ily does  need  him,"  answered  Will.  "  And, 
meanwhile,  keep  your  eyes  open  after 
dark,  and  take  no  chances.  Carry  a  good 
heavy  stick,  too." 

"  All  right ! "  laughed  Reube.  "  But  I 
think  these  hands  of  mine  are  good 
enough  for  Mart,  any  day." 


THE  DIDO  S  FIRST   FISHING  TRIP. 


97 


That  night  proving  fine,with  a  fair,  light 
wind  down  the  bay,  Reube  and  Will  took 
the  Dido  out  for  her  first  drift.  In  the 
cuddy  were  stowed  some  extra  clothes  in 
case  of  a  cold  bay  fog  rolling  up,  and  sev- 
eral thick  blankets,  and  enough  bread  and 
meat  and  cold  tea  for  a  couple  of  days 
in  case  the  trip  should  be  unexpectedly 
prolonged.  Will  insisted  also  on  a  gener- 
ous sheet  of  Mrs.  Dare's  gingerbread  and  a 
brown  stone  jug  of  lime-juice  ready  mixed. 
He  had  a  care  for  material  comforts.  But 
as  for  Reube,  he  was  in  such  a  state  of  ex- 
alted excitement  that  he  could  think  of 
nothing  but  shad  and  the  Dido. 

Will  was  an  excellent  shot — famous, 
indeed,  all  about  that  region  for  his  habit 
of  going  partridge  shooting  with  a  little 
rifle  instead  of  the  orthodox  shotgun.  He 
now  took  his  beloved  little  rifle  with  him 
in  the  hope  of  bagging  some  rare  spec- 
imen of  gull  or  hawk.  He  little  dreamed 
that  he  might  turn  out  to  be  hunted  in- 
stead of  hunter  on  that  trip. 

By  the  time  all  preparations  were  com- 


I  ; 


r. 


;  I 


II! 


98 


REUBE  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


:i 


III 
III 


I: 


■T 


Urn 


I'M 


plete,  and  the  brown  nets,  beaded  with 
wooden  floats  and  leaden  sinkers,  un- 
wound from  the  reel  and  neatly  coiled  in 
the  Didos  stern,  and  the  great  half  hogs- 
head amidships  filled  with  water  to  serve 
as  ballast,  the  rest  of  the  shad  fleet  were 
dropping  one  by  one  out  of  the  creek.  Like 
great  pale  moths  their  sails  floated  over 
the  marsh,  following  the  windings  of  the 
creek,  and  vanishing  into  the  silvery  night. 
The  Dido  followed  with  Reube  at  the 
helm.  She  sailed  swiftly  and  soon  over- 
took her  slower  rivals.  Only  the  little 
red-and-white  pinkie  preserved  her  dis- 
tance, and  Reube  had  to  acknowledge, 
reluctantly,  that  she  was  as  speedy  as  the 
Dido.  When  the  fleet  reached  the  open 
every  boat  headed  down  the  bay,  at  the 
same  time  diverging  from  its  neighbor. 
The  object  of  this  latter  movement  was 
to  get  the  utmost  possible  room  for  the 
nets ;  of  the  former  to  get  as  far  down 
the  bay  as  possible  before  turning  with 
the  tide  to  drift  back.  The  fishing  was 
all  done  on  this  backward  drift. 


THE   dido's   first   FISHING   TRIP. 


99 


The  Dido  gradually  lost  sight  of  all 
her  rivals  but  the  pinkie,  which  hovered, 
a  faint  white  speck,  far  to  starboard.  The 
five  hours'  sail  brought  our  young  shad 
fishers  past  Cape  Chignecto,  and  into 
wider  waters.  It  was  rough  off  the  cape 
after  the  turn  of  tide,  and  the  Dido  pitched 
heavily  in  the  steep  yellow  waves.  Neither 
Reube  nor  Will  had  ever  before  been  so 
far  down  the  bay,  and  in  their  curiosity 
over  a  certain  strange  formation  of  the 
cliffs  they  sailed  somewhat  close  to  the 
shore. 

Will,  from  his  place  on  the  cuddy,  was 
expatiating  learnedly  on  the  distorted 
strata  before  them,  when  suddenly  he 
broke  off  in  the  midst  of  a  word,  and 
yelled  : 

"  A  reef  right  ahead  !  Bring  her  about, 
quick ! " 

But  Reube  had  seen  the  danger  at  the 
same  instant.  With  one  hand  he  jammed 
the  helm  hard  down,  and  with  the  other 
loosed  the  main  sheet,  at  the  same  time 
shouting  to  Will : 


I 


t'S.    * 


lil 


ill 


t 


t       i. 


■I 


i 


I! 


I  < 


'5 


iiiiii 


1 

\ 


100 


REUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


"  Let  go  the  jib!" 

Will  sprang  to  obey.  But  the  stiff  new 
rope,  pulled  taut  during  the  long  run  and 
shrunken  hard  by  the  spray,  would  not 
yield  at  once  even  to  his  strong  fingers. 
It  had  got  jammed  fast  in  some  way. 
Meanwhile  the  D/do,  broadside  on  and 
beaten  mightily  by  the  waves,  was  heel- 
ing as  if  she  would  turn  over  in  the  trough. 
The  jib  pulled  terrifically,  and  the  water 
hissed  above  the  cleaving  gunwale. 

"Quick!  Quick!"  yelled  Reube;  and 
Will,  snatching  his  knife  from  his  belt, 
severed  the  rope  at  a  slash  and  released 
the  sail.  Gracefully  the  DiWo  swung  up, 
righted  herself,  and  bowed  on  an  even 
keel. 

••  That  was  something  of  a  close  shave," 
remarked  Reube. 

"  It  was,"  said  Will,  studying  with  angry 
eyes  the  rope  which  had  baffled  him. 

After  this  they  took  a  long  tack  which 
brought  them  once  more  into  smoother 
waters  above  the  cape.  As  the  sun  got 
higher  the  wind  fell  lighter,  and  at  length 


I 


THE  dido's  first  FISHING  TRIP.         lOI 

Reube  announced  that  it  was  time  to  get 
out  the  net.  The  mainsail  was  hauled 
down,  and  under  a  close-reefed  jib  the 
Dido  lay  to  while  the  net  was  slowly  and 
carefully  paid  out  over  the  stern.  The 
helm  was  so  delicately  manipulated  that 
the  floating  net  was  not  allowed  to  bunch, 
but  formed  its  line  of  blocks  into  a  wide, 
shallow  crescent  with  the  Dido  at  one 
horn.  This  accomplished,  the  remaining 
bit  of  canvas  was  furled  and  the  long, 
slow  process  of  "drifting"  was  fairly  be- 
gun. The  tide  ran  fast,  and  the  shores 
a  half  mile  distant  slipped  smoothly  by. 
The  rudder  swung  loose  while  Will  and 
Reube  ate  their  breakfast,  and  congrat- 
ulated themselves  on  the  sailing  qualities 
of  the  Dido.  After  breakfast  they  basked 
in  the  sweet  June  sun,  told  stories,  won- 
dered idly  if  the  net  was  capturing  any- 
thing, grew  sleepy,  and  at  last  began  to 
get  impatient.  A  great  gray  gull  flew 
over,  and  Will  raised  his  rifle.  But  he 
lowered  it  instantly. 

"  I  was  on  the  point  of  dropping  that 


'  r 


w 


\ 


I   ; 


■    i 


i\. 


^!l 


;#;' 


102 


REUBE  dare's  SMAD  BOAT. 


poor  old  grayback,"  said  he,  penitently, 
"just  for  lack  of  something  better  to  do." 

"  I  wondered  why  you  were  going  to 
shoot  it,"  said  Reube,  "when'I  knew  it 
was  no  good  as  a  specimen." 

"  I  say,"  exclaimed  Will,  a  few  minutes 
later,  yawning,  "  this  sun's  getting  mighty 
hot !    How  long  have  we  been  drifting  ?  " 

"  A  little  over  two  hours,"  replied 
Reube. 

"How  long  is  one  expected  to  drift?" 
asked  Will. 

"  O,  say  four,  or  maybe  five,"  was  the 
reply. 

"  Well,  as  this  is  just  a  sort  of  trial  trip 
and  picnic,"  suggested  Will,  "  I  move  we 

haul  in  the  net  and  count  our  fish.     Then 

* 

we  can  sail  round  yonder  point  to  a  big 
creek  I  know  of  with  a  fine,  shelving 
sand  spit  at  its  mouth.  The  sand  is  cov- 
ered at  high  water ;  but  about  the  time 
we  get  there  it  will  be  just  right  for  you 
to  go  in  swimrriing  from.  A  swim  will  go 
fine  this  hot  day,  eh  ?" 

"  All  right !"  assented  Reube.     He  was 


,..    ;,.,.,    .*-     .   .-^t^. 


h  t 


i 


1  , 

11!    t! 


.#.  H 


m 


III    '■    K 
iiiii'  ill!'  1 


Then  came  the  shining,  silvery  sides  of  a  dozen  shad. 


^^' 


THE   dido's   first  FISHING  TRIP.         105 

himself  consumed  with  impatience  to  see 
what  was  in  the  net. 

As  the  first  two  oar's  lengths  came  over 
the  side  there  was  nothing,  and  the  fish- 
ermen's faces  fell.  Then  came  the  shin- 
ing, silvery  sides  of  a  dozen  shad,  and 
they  grew  exultant.  Then  a  small  salmon, 
and  they  chuckled.  Then  two  or  three 
large  jellyfish  slipped  through  the  meshes 
in  fragments.  And  then  the  jhad  really  be- 
gan. It  was  a  noble  haul,  and  excitement 
ran  high  in  the  DiWo.  The  huge  tub  amid- 
ships was  nearly  half  full  of  the  gleaming 
spoils  by  the  time  the  last  fathom  of  net 
came  over  the  side ;  and  there  was  also 
another  and  larger  salmon  to  show.  The 
water  in  the  tub  was  thrown  overboard,  as 
the  shad  made  sufficient  ballast. 

"If  the  D/do  keeps  it  up  like  this  she'll 
be  as  good  as  your  diked  marsh,"  cried 
Reube,  gloating  over  his  prizes. 

"  Right  you  are  ! "  said  Will,  heartily, 
washing  his  hands  with  vigor  over  the 
side.  "  And  now  for  that  swim.  We've 
earned  it,  and  we  need  it." 


r 


I  ■  ■ 


*■ 


I; 


i 


n 


S 


II, 


1 


io6 


REUBE  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


■w 


■•;  K 


Forthwith  the  sails  were  got  up,  and 
the  Dido  made  all  haste  for  the  swimming 
place  which  Will  had  indicated.  She 
rounded  the  point,  skirted  the  shore  for 
nearly  a  mile,  ran  into  the  creek's  mouth, 
and  dropped  anchor  beside  the  tempting 
yellow  sand  spit. 


mN  i!  i 


m  ,  i'l' 


'l!(    ,' 


BESIEGED   ON  THE  SAND   SPIT. 


107 


CHAPTER  X. 
Besieged  on  the  Sand  Spit. 

WILL  lost  no  time  in  getting  off  his 
clothes.  He  felt  hot  and  fishy^ 
and  the  cool,  tawny  ripples  allured  him. 
Reube  tested  the  anchor  to  see  that  the 
Dido  held  fast,  and  then  began  more 
slowly  to  undress.  The  anchor  had  been 
dropped  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty 
feet  from  the  sand  spit,  but  the  boat  had 
swung  off  before  the  light  breeze  till  the 
distance  was  increased  to  a  score  of 
yards. 

"  That's  quite  a  swim  for  me.  Will,"  said 
Reube,  doubtfully,  eyeing  the  tide. 

"Nonsense!  You  can  swim  twice  as 
far  as  that  if  you  only  think  so,"  asserted 
Will  with  confidence.  "  By  the  way,  I 
wonder  what  makes  you  such  a  duffer  in 
the  water.  That's  your  weak  point.  I 
must  take  you  in  hand  and  make  a  water 
dog  of  you." 

"  I  just  wish  you  would,"  said  Reube. 


!"t 


m 


1 08 


REUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


:4 


m 


.,~M^' 


II.       .     , 


"  I  don't  seem  to  really  get  hold  of  my- 
self in  the  water.  I  have  to  work  fright- 
fully hard  to  keep  up  at  all,  and  then  I'm 
all  out  of  breath  in  less  than  no  time. 
Why  is  it,  I  wonder  ?  " 

"  Well,"  answered  Will,  "  we'll  see  right 
now.  You  swim  over  to  the  bar  yonder, 
and  I'll  stand  here  and  watch  your  ac- 
tion. I  fancy  you  don't  use  your  legs 
just  right." 

"  It's  too  far.  Pull  her  in  a  little  way." 
urged  Reube. 

Laughingly  Will  complied.  He  pulled 
on  the  rope  till  the  JJido  was  almost 
straicrht  above  the  anchor.  Then  Reube 
slipped  overboard  with  an  awkward 
splash  and  struck  out  for  the  sand  spit. 

His  progress  was  slow  and  labored. 
His  strokes  made  a  great  turmoil,  but 
produced  little  solid  result.  Will's  face 
wore  a  look  of  amused  comprehension, 
but  he  refrained  from  criticism  till  the  ' 
swimmer  had  reached  his  goal  and  drawn 
himself  out  panting  on  the  sand. 

"  How's  that?"  asked  Reube. 


Hi  '  '    ' 


T 


BESIEGED   ON  THE  S\ND  SPIT. 


109 


"O,  it's  all  wrong!  If  it  was  anyone 
less  obstinate  than  you  he  wouldn't  keep 
afloat  half  a  minute  struggling  that  way," 
answered  Will.  "  But  wait  a  moment  and 
I'll  show  you  what  I  mean." 

With  a  graceful  curve  Will  plunged 
into  the  water  as  smoothly  as  if  he  had 
been  oiled.  A  few  long,  powerful  strokes 
brought  him  to  the  spot  where  his  com- 
rade was  standing. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  get  in  there  in  front 
of  me  when  the  water  comes  up  to  the 
lower  part  of  your  chest.  You  use  your 
legs  wrong,  and  your  arms  too.  Your 
arms  don't  make  a  quarter  the  stroke 
they  ought  to,  and  your  fingers  are  wide 
open,  and  your  hands  press  out  instead 
of  down  on  the  water  too  much.  Keep 
your  fingers  together,  and  turn  your 
palms  so  that  they  tend  to  lift  you,  in- 
stead of  just  pushing  the  water  away  on 
each  side.  And,  moreover,  finish  your 
stroke  ! " 

'•  And  what  about  my  legs  7 "  asked 
Reube,  humbly. 

8 


\ 


■   !f 


ll  ■ 


:*  5* 


im 


no 


1.1  ♦ 


KEUDE   DARE  S    SHAD   150AT. 


"  Never  mind  them  till  we  get  the 
hands  right,"  insisted  Will.  "  Now  lean 
forward  slowly,  with  your  back  hollowed 
well  and  chin  up,  your  arms  out  straight 
ahead,  and  straighten  your  legs.  Right ! 
Now  round  with  your  arms  in  a  big,  fine 
sweep,  drawing  up  your  legs  at  the  same 
time.  That's  more  like  it.  But  your 
legs — you  draw  them  up  right  under  you 
with  the  knees  close  together.  That's 
all  wrong.  Didn't  you  ever  watch  a  frog, 
old  man  ?  As  you  draw  up  your  legs 
spread  your  knees  wide  apart  like  one- of 
those  tin  monkeys  shinning  up  a  stick. 
Try  again.  M-m-m  !  Yes,  that's  some- 
thing like  what  I  want.  You  see,  with  the 
knees  doubled  up  wide  apart  they  have 
their  separate  motions  as  you  kick  them 
out  again.  The  legs  press  the  water 
down,  and  so  do  some  lifting.  The 
feet  push  you  ahead,  and  at  the  same 
time  you  thrust  a  wedge  of  water  back- 
ward from  between  your  legs  as  they 
come  strongly  together." 

"  That's   reasonable,"  assented    Reube, 


III 


BESIEGED   ON  THE   SAND   SPIT. 


Ill 


practicing  diligently.  In  a  few  minutes 
he  had  made  a  marvelous  advance  in  his 
method.  Will  sometimes  swam  beside 
him,  sometimes  stood  on  the  bar  and 
criticised. 

All  at  once,  in  the  midst  of  an  encour- 
aging speech  he  clapped  his  hands  to  his 
heart  with  a  cry  of  pain,  sank  upon  the 
sand,  and  called  out  sharply : 

"Come  here  quick,  quick,  Reube ! " 

Reube  remembered  his  lessons  even 
in  his  anxiety,  and  with  long,  powerful 
strokes  made  his  way  swiftly  to  Will's 
side.  As  he  landed  Will  straightened 
himself  up  with  a  grave  smile,  and  held 
out"  his  hand  to  draw  Reube  back  from 
the  water's  edge. 

"  I'm  all  right  now,"  said  he. 

"But  what  was  the  matter.?"  queried 
Reube,  in  impatient  astonishment. 

"Why,  just  that,"  replied  Will,  sud- 
denly pointing  to  the  water. 

Reube  turned  and  glanced  behind  him. 

''Sharks  f'  he  almost  shouted.  And 
there,  sure  enough,  were  two  black  tri- 


V 


'I, 


I  I 


! 


'     il 


Tp! 


!i 


■iii 


112 


REUBE  DARES  SHAD  BOAT. 


angular  fins  cleaving  the  water  where  he 
had  just  been  swimming. 

After  staring  for  a  moment  or  two  in 
silence  he  turned  again  and  met  the  in- 
scrutable smile  on  his  companion  s  face. 
He  held  out  his  hand. 

"  I  understand,"  said  he.  "If  I'd  got 
flurried  in  the  water  I  v^^ould  have  for- 
gotten the  lessons  you  have  just  given 
me,  and  couldn't  have  got  to  shore  fast 
enouQ^h."  And  in  the  love  and  admira- 
tion  which  glowed  in  his  eyes  Will  read 
sufficient  thanks. 

"  Now  the  question  is,"  mused  the  lat- 
ter, "how  we're  going  to  get  to  the  boat." 

"  Seems  to  me  we'd  better  stay  right 
here  for  the  present,"  said  Reube,  drily. 

"  Yes,"  suggested  Will ;  "  and  when  the 
tide  gets  a  little  higher,  what  then  ?  " 

"  Um  ! "  said  Reube,  "  I  was  forgetting 
this  is  not  an  honest  island.  This  does 
certainly  look  awkward.  But  what  do 
you  suppose  those  chaps  are  doing,  cruis- 
ing to  and  fro  right  there  ?  Are  they  just 
catching  herring  ?    Or  are  they  after  us  ?  " 


BESIEGED  ON   THE  SAND   SPIT. 


"3 


.^y 


"  You  would  know  what  they  were  after 
if  you  had  seen  the  way  they  streaked  in 
here  when  they  got  a  glimpse  of  you," 
responded  Will. 

"  I  don't  see  what  weVe  going  to  do 
about  it,"  said  Reube  presently,  after  they 
had  gazed  at  their  dreadful  besiegers  in 
gloomy  silence.  "  But  there's  something 
in  the  way  of  a  weapon  which  we  might 
as  well  secure  anyway."  And  running  to 
the  other  side  of  the  sand  spit  he  snatched 
up  a  broken  picket  which  had  been  left 
there  by  the  previous  ebb.  "  It's  better 
than  nothing,"  he  insisted. 

"  Reube,"  said  Will,  "  if  we  stay  here 
it's  all  up  with  us  pretty  soon.  We'll  just 
make  a  dinner  for  those  chaps.  It  seems 
to  me  I'd  better  take  that  stick  you've 
got  there  and  make  a  dash  for  the  Dido, 
You  know  I  swim  wonderfully  fast,  and 
dive  like  a  fish ;  and  I  can  perhaps  man- 
age to  jab  the  sharks  with  that  picket,  or 
scare  them  off  by  making  a  great  splash 
in  the  water.  If  I  succeed  in  getting  to 
the  Dido  I'll  bring  her  over  for  you,  and 


«< 

i 
\ 


- 


;>  i 


114 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


p '  <  ■  ■  > 

i  ■■•■■ 


we'll  fix  the  enemy  with  a  couple  of  bul- 
lets." 

"  No,"  said  Reube,  doggedly,  grasping 
the  other  firmly  by  the  shoulder.  "  You 
just  wait  here.  We'll  fight  this  thing  out 
side  by  side,  as  we  have  fought  things  out 
before.  Remember  the  cave.  Will !  And 
we  won't  fight  till  we  have  to.  We're 
safe  for  a  half  hour  yet  anyway." 

"  And  then  the  distance  between  us  and 
the  boat  will  be  all  the  greater,"  urged 
Will. 

"  No,  the  wind's  falling  and  it  may  turn 
and  blow  the  D/do  over  this  way,"  in- 
sisted Reube.  "  See,  the  fitful  little  gusts 
now.  Or  one  of  the  other  boats  may 
come  in  sight  near  enough  for  us  to  hail 
her.  You  never  can  tell  what  may  hap- 
pen, you  know." 

Indeed,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Reube  wa^ 
right.  He  could  not  tell  what  would 
happen.  What  actually  did  happen  was 
neither  of  the  things  which  he  had  sug- 
gested, and  yet  it  was  the  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world. 


I'OILING   THE   SHARKS. 


115 


T 


' 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Foiling  the  Sharks. 

O  LOWLY  the  tide  crept  in  upon  the 
^  spit,  and  the  strip  of  sand  grew 
narrower.  Those  grimly  patrolling  black 
fins  drew  nearer  and  nearer  as  the  bar 
became  smaller.  The  gusts  of  wind 
grew  more  and  more  capricious,  some- 
times seeming  as  if  they  would  actually 
swinor  the  Dici^o  over  to  the  rescue  of  the 
despairing  prisoners ;  but  this  they  re- 
frained from  doing. 

"  She'll  swing  over  to  us  yet,"  asserted 
Reube,  confidently.  "  She  isn't  going  to 
desert  us  in  such  a  horrible  scrape  as 
this!" 

But  Will  made  no  reply.  He  was 
studying  his  tactics  for  the  struggle  which 
he  felt  was  now  close  at  hand. 

"  You'd  better  give  that  stake,  or  pick- 
et, or  whatever  it  is,  to  me,  Reube,"  he 
suggested.  "  You'll  have  enough  to  do 
just    swimming.       I,   being   perfectly   at 


!' 


•^1 


I 


ii6 


REUBE  DARE\S  SHAD  BOAT. 


m 


home  in  the  water,  will  be  able  to  make 
the  best  use  of  it,  don't  you  think  ?  If  I 
can  manage  to  give  each  of  those  brutes 
a  solid  jab  in  the  belly,  maybe  they'll  get 
sick  of  their  undertaking  and  depart." 

"  All  right,"  agreed  Reube,  though  with 
some  reluctance.  And  he  handed  over 
the  sharp  stick. 

"You'll  have  to  fight  for  yourself  and 
me  too,  that's  all,"  he  continued. 

"  I'll  make  a  fight  anyway,"  said  Will. 
"  And  I  dare  say  I  can  drive  them  both 
off.  In  these  well-stocked  waters  they 
can't  be  very  hungry  or  very  fierce." 

At  last  the  strip  of  sand  was  not 
more  than  three  or  four  feet  wide  and  six 
inches  above  water.  But  though  so  nar- 
row it  was  more  than  a  hundred  yards  in 
length,  extending  like  a  sort  of  backbone 
up  the  entrance  to  the  creek.  About  the 
middle  it  looked  a  foot  or  two  broader 
than  where  the  captives  were  standing. 

"  Come  up  there  where  it  is  wider," 
said  Reube. 

As  they  went  those  black    fins   kept 


FOILING   THE   SHARKS. 


117 


scrupulously  abreast  of  them,  and  they 
(  shuddered  at  the  sight. 
^  At  this  point  the  opposite  shore  of 
the  creek  jutted  out  somewhat  sharply 
toward  the  sand  spit.  Will  cast  his  eye 
across  the  narrow  channel. 
y  "  What  fools  we  are  all  this  time  ! "  he 
cried.  "  Why,  we  can  easily  swim  across 
to  land  on  this  side  before  the  sharks  can 
get  all  the  way  around  the  shoal." 

"  Can  we  }  "  inquired  Reube,  doubtfully. 

"Yes,"  said  Will,  "and  the  sooner  the 
better.  But  now  look,  Reube  ;  keep  cool. 
Don't  try  to  hurry  too  much.  Take  the 
long,  slow  strokes.  And  remember,  I'll 
keep  behind,  and  if  the  brutes  do  get 
around  too  quick  I'll  keep  them  busy  a 
minute  or  two,  never  fear.  Then  you 
can  come  to  my  rescue  with  one  of  those 
fence  stakes  yonder.  Come  on,  now ! " 
And  side  by  side  they  slipped  swiftly  into 
the  water. 

WHth  long,  powerful  strokes  they  sped 
across  the  narrow  channel  that  divided 
them    from   safety.     Will,   swimming   at 


1 


1 1 


. 


v.- 
I 


!-l 


If  I 


'*:'W.^( 


Jiii 

IdII  '*  ■  ''it. 


r,J»i 


Ii8 


KKIJP.E    DARE  S    SHAD    P.OAT. 


much  less  than  his  full  speed,  dropped 
almost  a  yard  behind  as  soon  as  they  were 
fairly  started,  and  swam  on  his  side  so  as 
to  command  a  view  of  the  water  behind. 
The  narrow  ridge  of  yet  uncovered  sand, 
however,  prevented  him  from  seeing 
what  took  place  when  he  and  Reube 
slipped  noiselessly,  as  they  thought,  into 
the  water.  Those  black  fins  had  turned 
on  the  instant,  and  were  dartincj  with  ter- 
rific  speed  for  the  lower  end  of  the  sand 
spit. 

By  the  time  our  swimmers  were  fairly 
halfway  across,  or  perhaps  a  shade  better, 
Will  saw  the  fins  come  round  the  foot  of 
the  sand  spit. 

"  I  think  we'll  make  it,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, measuring  the  distance  with  cool  eye. 
But  he  refrained  from  telling  Reube 
what  he  saw.  A  moment  later,  however, 
IS  he  marked  the  terrible  speed  of  the 
approaching  peril,  he  could  not  help  say- 
ing, in  a  voice  which  he  kept  quite  steady 
and  casual: 

"  You're    doing  finely,  Reube.     Don't 


3* 
9 

i 


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B. 
51 

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FOILING   THE   SHARKS. 


121 


hurry  your  stroke,  but  put  a  little  more 
power  in  it  for  a  spurt  and  we're  safe." 

Reube  wasted  no  breath  for  a  reply. 
He  knew  this  adjuration  of  Will's  meant 
that  the  danger  was  drawing  very  near ; 
but  his  companion's  anxiety  as  to  his 
nerves  was  quite  unneeded.  He  struck 
out  as  steadily  as  ever,  but  with  all  the 
force  which  his  muscle  and  his  will  power 
together  could  create,  and  went  ahead  so 
fast  that  Will  had  to  really  swim  to  keep 
up  with  him.  In  half  a  minute  more — to 
them  it  seemed  a  lone  time — Reube 
struck  bottom  in  shallow  water  and 
dragged  himself  to  land.  The  sharks 
were  now  so  near  that  for  an  instant  W^ill 
hesitated.  Would  he  have  time  to  get 
out,  or  must  he  turn  and  defend  his  legs  ? 
But  his  decision  was  instantaneous.  With 
a  mighty  thrust  of  his  legs  and  one  free 
arm  he  flung  himself  forward,  felt  the 
mud  beneath  his  hands,  jerked  his  feet 
under  him,  and  stood  up  just  in  time  to 
turn  and  deal  the  nearest  shark  a  desper- 
ate blow  with  the  pointed  stake  as  it  half 


w 


122 


>'o 


REUBE   DARE  S    SI  J  AD   BOAT. 


1:1    4 


I.    ( 


turned  over  to  seize  him.  Astonished 
and  daunted,  the  great  fish  recoiled,  and 
before  its  fellow  could  join  in  the  attack 
Will  had  sprung  out  of  reach. 

"  It's  a  blessed  thing,"  said  Will,  "  to 
get  ashore  with  a  whole  leg,  isn't  it  ?  " 

His  light  manner  was  but  the  froth  on 
the  surface  of  his  deeper  emotions.  He 
was  trembling  from  the  long  strain  and 
stern  self-repression. 

Reube  drew  a  deep,  slow  breath. 

"  Verily,"  said  he,  with  a  grave  face, 
'*  that  was  pretty  nearly  as  bad  as  the 
cave  while  it  lasted  ! " 

"  O,  surely  not,"  objected  Will.  "  We 
had  the  free  air  and  sun,  and  a  chance  to 
fight  for  our  lives.  But  it  makes  me 
mad  to  think  what  fools  we  were  in  the 
first  place." 

"  How  so.^  "  asked  Reube. 

•' W^hy,"  answered  Will,  "if  we'd  come 
this  way  on  the  first  arrival  of  those 
beastly  leviathans  we  would  not  have 
had  half  so  far  to  swim,  and  our  pursu- 
ers would  have  had  nearly  twice  as  far  to 


FOILING  THE   SHARKS. 


123 


go.  It  would  have  all  been  as  simple 
and  easy  as  falling  off  a  log,  and  our  hearts 
wouldn't  be  going  like  trip  hammers  now, 
the  way  they  are." 

"  That's  so,"  agreed  Reube,  in  a  tone  of 
disgust.  "  But  now  I'm  wondering  what 
other  scrapes  we  can  manage  to  get  into 
between  here  and  home.  I  never  real- 
ized till  now  the  truth  of  the  proverb — 
generally  I  despise  proverbs — which  says 
*  It  never  rains  but  it  pours  !'  It  seems 
to  me  I  have  been  at  steady  high  pressure 
the  last  few  days,  and  lived  more  and 
felt  more  than  in  all  the  rest  of  my  life 
put  together." 

"My  idea  is  that  fate  '11  let  us  alone 
for  a  while  now,"  remarked  Will,  with  the 
air  of  a  philosopher.  "  The  law  of  prob- 
abilities is  all  against  any  further  excite- 
ment on  this  trip." 

"  So  be  it  ! "  said  Reube.  "  But  let's 
get  to  the  Dido — and  our  clothes  !  " 

Trotting  up  the  lonely  shore  of  the 
creek  for  half  a  mile,  they  came  to  an 
aboideanx,  and  crossed  to  the  other  shore 


1^1 


I^i 


T24 


REUBE  DARE'S  SHAD  BOAT. 


fd-f 


Hil'i 


^•s; 


of  the  stream.  Following  down  the  bank, 
they  soon  came  opposite  the  Dido.  The 
sharks  were  nowhere  to  be  seen,  and  the 
£>ido  presently  swung  so  near  that  a 
short  plunge  put  them  safely  on  board. 
Dressing  hastily,  they  got  up  the  anchor 
and  sailed  out  of  the  creek  with  their 
bowsprit  pointing  homeward.  As  they 
did  so  the  sharks  appeared  again,  pur- 
suing them.  Will  tied  a  piece  of  pork  to 
a  dry  block,  tossed  it  overboard,  and 
snatched  up  his  rifle.  The  bait  floated 
a  moment  unmolested,  then  the  nearest 
shark,  darting  upon  it,  turned  over  and 
engulfed  it  in  his  murderous  mouth. 
At  the  same  moment  Will  fired.  The 
ball,  with  deadly  precision,  entered  the 
brute's  mouth  and  pierced  its  brain.  With 
a  convulsive  flurry  it  rolled  over  stone 
dead. 


THE   SHOT  FROM   THE   ROCKS.  12$ 


CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Shot  from  the  Rocks. 

T^HE  Other  shark,  taking  alarm,  darted 
-^     away  at  once. 
"  That's  a  trophy  we  must  secure  ! "  ex- 
claimed Reube.  "  You  don't  have  a  chance 
to  shoot  a  shark  every  day." 

Will  was  already  noosing  a  couple  of 
ropes.     The  Dido  was  brought  alongside 
the  rolling  carcass,  and  after  a  great  deal 
of  difficulty  the  nooses  were  made  fast 
to  its  head  and  tail.    In  the  effort  to  hoist 
the    heavy   mass    aboard    the    boat  was 
nearly  swamped  ;  and  at  one  time  Will 
offered  to  give  up  the  job.     But  Reube 
generously  insisted    on    continuing.     At 
last,  by  waiting  till  a  wave  rolled  boat  and 
carcass  together    in   just  the  most  pro- 
pitious way  possible,  the  thing  was  ac- 
complished with  a  sudden  hoist.     Along 
with  the   great    fish  a  barrel  or  two  of 

water   came   aboard;  and   while    Reube 
0 


126 


REUIJE   DARE  S    SHAD   DOAT. 


Iv 


(ill 


»)i'i, 


Steered,  Will  was  kept  busy  for  a  half 
hour  bailing  the  boat  out. 

This  accomplished,  Will  discovered 
that  the  hot  sun,  the  excitement,  or  pos- 
sibly the  motion  of  the  boat,  had  given 
him  a  violent  headache.     _^  ^ 

"  O,  it's  all  very  well,  but  you  know 
you're  seasick,"  gibed  Reube,  as  he  sat  at 
the  helm. 

"  Maybe  so,*'  assented  W^ill,  undisturbed 
at  the  imputation.  "  Anyway,  I'm  going 
to  lie  down  here  under  the  shade  of  the 
mainsail  to  sleep  it  off  Even  if  I  snore 
don't  wake  me,  as  you  value  your  life !" 

With  the  aid  of  a  blanket  he  made 
himself  comfortable,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
was  sound  asleep.  Steering  the  Dtdodind 
watching  the  shores  slip  by,  and  building 
plans  for  the  coming  year,  Reube  was 
well  content.  The  wind,  after  having  al- 
most died  away,  had  shifted  a  few  points 
'  and  was  blowing  gently  but  steadily. 
With  this  wind  on  her  beam  the  Dido 
sailed  fast,  heeling  smoothly,  and  sending 
the  waves  past  her  gunwale  with  a  pleas- 


i  j.'i- 


p 


THE  SHOT  FROM  THE  ROCKS. 


127 


ant  murmur.  Reube  took  little  account 
of  time  just  now.  Life  seemed  a  very 
attractive  dream,  and  he  was  unwilling 
even  to  stir.  But  his  hand  on  the  tiller 
was  firm,  and  there  was  no  smallest  dan- 
ger of  him  dropping  to  sleep. 

This  lotus-eating  mood,  with  a  few  in- 
tervals, must  have  lasted  four  or  five 
hours.  The  tide  had  turned  and  been  a 
good  three  hours  on  the  ebb.  At  last  he 
observed  vaguely  that  he  was  just  off  the 
promontory  where  he  and  Will  had  been 
caught  in  the  cave.  Thinking  of  the 
dangers  of  the  locality,  he  steered  a  point 
or  two  further  out  to  give  the  sunken 
reefs  a  wide  berth.  As  he  did  so  he  no- 
ticed that  the  tide  was  out  as  far  as  the 
foot  of  the  bluff,  and  that  the  cove  flats 
were  all  uncovered.  He  was  fairly  past 
the  point  when  out  of  the  tail  of  his  eye 
he  caught  a  movement  among  the  rocks 
just  where  the  cave  mouth  lay.  Turning 
his  head  quickly,  he  saw  Mart  Gandy  step 
forward  and  raise  his  great  duck  gun  to 
his  shoulder. 


'W 


k 


I 


128 


.-.♦ 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


The  distance  was  scarcely  fifty  yards, 
and  Gandy  was  a  first-rate  shot.  There 
was  no  time  to  think.  Like  a  flash  Reube 
dropped  forward  upon  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  letting  the  tiller  swing  free.  At  the 
same  instant  there  was  a  loud,  roaring 
report  from  the  big  duck  gun,  and  the 
heavy  charge  of  buckshot,  passing  just 
over  the  gunwale,  tore  a  black  hole  in  the 
sail. 

Reube  had  fallen  just  in  time.  He 
picked  himself  up  again  at  once,  recap- 
tured the  tiller,  and  tried  to  put  the  DzWo 
before  the  wind  in  the  hope  of  getting 
out  of  range  ere  Gandy  could  load  up 
for  another  shot.  But  the  boat  was 
pointing  straight  for  the  shore,  and  came 
round  very  slowly.  Ere  Reube  could 
get  her  on  a  new  course  Will  appeared 
from  behind  the  sail,  astonished  at  the 
noise  and  the  confusion. 

He  took  in  the  situation  at  once.  Gan- 
dy, who  was  reloading  in  fierce  haste, 
stopped  for  a  moment  with  paling  face  at 
Will's  unexpected  appearance.      He  had 


THE  SHOT  FROM  THE  ROCKS. 


129 


evidently  been  under  the  impression  that 
Reube  was  alone,  or  doubtless  he  would 
not  have  committed  himself  by  such 
an  attack.  Then  he  made  up  his  mind 
that  ho  would  see  the  thing  through. 
Flinging  down  his  powder  horn,  he 
rammed  home  the  wadding  fiercely,  and 
reached  for  the  heavy  shot  pouch  at  his 
side. 

"  To  shore,  Reube  !  Straight  ashore 
with  her ! "  said  Will,  in  a  low,  intense 
voice. 

Reube  obeyed  instantly,  seeing  that 
his  former  intention  had  been  a  mistake. 
Mart  Gandy  wadded  home  the  buckshot 
in  his  great  gun  barrel.  The  charge  was 
a  terrific  one.  Will  stooped,  like  a  wild- 
cat crouching  for  a  spring.  The  Dido 
rushed  straight  on,  and  both  Reube  and 
Will  declared  afterward  that  they  knew 
just  what  it  was  like  to  charge  a  battery. 

As  Will's  keen  eye  saw  Gaudy's  finger 
feel  for  the  trigger,  he  yelled,  "  Down  ! 
Reube!"  and  dropped  beneath  the  gun- 
wale.    On  the  instant  Reube  fell  flat  in 


il^ 


-i  !; 


130 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


i^ 


the  stern.  The  great  roar  of  the  duck 
gun  shook  the  air  at  the  same  moment. 
But  the  charge  flew  wild  and  high,  and 
a  black  hole  appeared  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  sail.  The  report  was  followed  by 
a  yell  of  pain,  and  the  big  gun  clattered 
on  the  rocks.  Gandy  staggered  back. 
The  breech  of  the  gun  had  blown  out, 
and  a  fragment  of  it  had  shattered  his 
arm.  In  a  moment,  however,  he  recov- 
ered himself  and  rushed  desperately  at 
the  face  of  the  bluff. 

The  boys  saw  at  once  what  had  hap- 
pened. 

"  We've  got  him  now,"  said  Reube, 
sternly.  His  sense  of  justice  quenched 
all  sense  of  pity. 

"  Yes,"  remarked  Will,  "  he  can't  climb 
the  rocks  with  that  arm  ;  and  now  that 
he  can't  fire  that  clumsy  weapon  of  his, 
he's  no  longer  dangerous.  We'll  just  take 
him  prisoner!" 

Meanwhile  the  Dido  was  dashing 
straight  on  to  the  Point,  trusting  to  Prov- 
idence that  she  would  strike  a  soft  spot. 


THE   SHOT   FROM   THE  ROCKS. 


131 


> 


But  with  Gandy  disabled  there  was  no  need 
of  this  desperate  haste,  so  Reube  steered 
for  a  place  where  he  knew  there  was  nei- 
ther reef  nor  honey  pot,  but  a  slope  of 
firm  sand.  He  was  too  much  occupied 
in  the  delicate  task  of  making  a  safe  land- 
ing for  the  Dido  to  observe  what  Gandy 
was  doing.  But  Will  v/atched  the  actions 
of  the  latter,  with  a  cold  smile  on  his 
finely  cut  mouth. 

"  He  is  a  coward,  every  time,  when  it 
comes  to  the  pinch!"  was  his  remark. 
"  See  him  now,  too  scared  to  meet  us  like 
a  man,  and  struggling  like  a  whipped  cur 
to  climb  those  rocks  and  get  away  !  He 
can't  do  it,  though  ! " 

Indeed,  Mart  Gandy  at  this  moment 
realized  the  fact  which  gave  Will  such 
satisfaction.  With  his  right  arm  broken, 
he  could  not  make  his  way  to  the  top  of 
the  bluff.  Like  a  hunted  animal,  he  turned 
and  glared  with  eyes  of  hate  and  fear 
upon  his  adversaries.  Again  he  looked 
at  the  rocks,  turning  his  head  quickly 
from    side    to    side.      And  then,  with   a 


m 


132 


KKUUt:   DARE  S    SHAD   BOAT. 


toil.' 


shrill,  fierce  cry,  he  darted  out  straight 
across  the  flats  toward  the  head  of  the 
cove. 

"  He'll  get  away  after  all,"  remarked 
Reube.  , 

"  Get  away,  indeed  ! "  muttered  Will. 
"  It's  in  the  very  thick  of  the  honey  pots 
he'll  be  in  less  than  half  a  minute,  or  I'm 
much  mistaken.     There  ! " 

As  he  spoke,  Gandy  was  seen  to  throw 
himself  violently  backward.  It  was  just 
in  time.  As  he  tore  himself  by  a  mighty 
wrench  from  the  engulfing  slime  he  strug- 
gled to  his  feet,  swerved  to  one  side,  and 
ran  on, 

Reube  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief; 
and  Will  said,  dispassionately : 

"  That  was  well  done.     It  was  sharp." 

Just  then  the  Dido  ran  up  on  the  sand, 
and  stopped  with  a  shock  that  would 
have  pitched  Will  overboard  if  he  had 
not  grasped  the  mast. 

"  Now  we've  done  it,  Reube  ! "  he  ex- 
claimed. "  We're  aground  hard  and  fast, 
just  when  there's  no   longer  any  need  of 


TIIK   SHOT   FROM   THE    ROCKS. 


133 


being  here.  I  fancy  we  won't  undertake 
to  follow  Mr.  Gandy  through  these  honey 
pots." 

Reube  made  no  direct  answer.  He 
was  on  his  feet  watching  the  fugitive, 
anxiously. 

"Ah-h-h  !"  he  cried,  "he's  got  it.  He'll 
never  get  through  that  patch  of  death 
traps  along  there." 

The  words  were  scarcely  out  of  his 
mouth  when  Gandy  seemed  to  wallow 
forward  as  if  the  ground  had  given  way 
beneath  him.  With  a  mighty  heave  of 
his  body  he  tried  to  throw  himself  back- 
ward as  he  had  done  before.  But  this 
time  he  was  too  late.  The  hungry,  green- 
ish-red ooze  but  lipped  and  clung  to  him 
more  greedily.  He  flung  himself  flat, 
rolled  on  his  side,  and  strove  to  drag  one 
leg  free.  With  the  effort  his  other  leg 
sank  up  to  the  thigh.  Then  he  lifted  his 
face  and  uttered  a  shriek  of  heart-shak- 
ing horror. 

Reube  and  Will  sprang  out  upon  the 
sand,  Will  grabbing  up  the  boat  hook  as 


134 


REUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


he  did  so.  Reube  snatched  it  from  his 
hand. 

"  Go  back  "  he  cried,  "  and  get  a  rope, 
and  follow  me  carefully  right  in  my  tracks. 
I  know  this  cove  and  you  don't." 

The  next  moment  he  was  speeding 
like  the  wind  to  the  spot  where  Gandy 
lay  writhing  in  that  inexorable  grasp. 


RESCUED  FROM  THE   HONEY  POTS.       1 35 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Gandy  is  Rescued  from  the  Honey  Pots. 

\1 /"ILL  was  but  a  few  seconds  in  get- 
^  '  ting  the  necessary  rope  out  of  the 
cuddy.  Then,  taking  an  oar  with  him, 
he  followed  Reube  as  fast  as  he  could 
run,  casting  wary  eyes  at  the  oily  patches 
which  were  dotted  around  his  path. 

The  wretch  in  the  honey  pots  had  evi- 
dently no  thought  that  his  enemies  would 
attempt  his  rescue.  When  he  saw  them 
approaching  he  thought  they  came  to 
mock  him  or  to  gloat  over  his  last  agony, 
and  he  nerved  himself  to  control  the  ter- 
ror which  had  unmanned  him.  Then  he 
saw  the  boat  hook,  the  oar,  the  rope,  and 
he  knew  that  these  meant  help  if  help 
were  possible.  A  wild  hope,  mixed  with 
wonder,  lit  up  his  deep-set  eyes.  Could 
it  be  that  Reube  Dare  would  try  to  save 
him  after  all  that  he  had  done  ?  To  let 
him  perish  would  be  just,  and  so  easy 
and  so  safe.     To  help  him  would  be  per- 


136 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


M 


ilous  indeed,  for  no  one  could  go  among 
the  honey  pots  without  taking  his  life  in 
his  hands;  and  yet  here  was  Reube,  here 
was  that  interfering  Carter  chap,  running 
toward  him  as  if  there  were  no  such  things 
as  honey  pots.  He  could  not  understand 
it.  The  deadly  mud  was  suckine,  suck- 
ing,  sucking  at  his  feet,  his  knees,  his 
thighs.  It  was  like  dumb,  insatiable 
tongues  of  strange  monsters  curling  about 
him.  Nevertheless,  he  half  forgot  the 
horror  in  a  new  feeling  which  broke  upon 
his  spirit,  and  this  emotion  spoke  in  his 
eyes  as  Reube  arrived  at  the  edge  of  the 
honey  pot.  Reube  saw  it,  and  it  insen- 
sibly softened  his  voice  as  he  said : 

"  Keep  up  your  nerve  now,  and  we'll 
get  you  out  all  right."  At  the  same  time 
he  stretched  out  the  boat  hook,  which 
Mart  grasped  with  desperate  strength, 
pressing  it  to  his  breast  with  his  one 
sound  arm. 

Flinging  all  his  weight  into  the  pull, 
Reube  surged  mightily  on  the  boat  hook. 
But  his  utmost  force  produced  no  effect. 


RESCUED  FROM  THE  HONEY  POTS.       I37 


The  pull  of  the  twisting  mud  was  might- 
ier. Instead  of  extricating  Gandy,  even 
by  an  inch,  he  found  himself  sinking.  He 
was  on  treacherous  ground.  With  a 
quick  wrench  he  freed  the  leg  that  was 
caught  by  dragging  it  from  its  boot. 
Then,  leaving  the  boot  where  it  was,  he 
ran  around  to  the  other  side  of  the  honey 
pot  and  felt  for  firm  standing  ground. 

As  he  did  so.  Will  came  up  breathing 
quickly. 

"  Be  keerful  on  your  right ! "  cried 
Gandy,  sharply,  and  Will  sprang  aside, 
just  avoiding  a  bad  spot. 

"  Thanks,  Gandy,"  he  remarked,  in  a 
casual  way,  as  if  Gandy  had  picked  up 
his  hat  for  him  or  handed  him  a  match. 
Then  he  flung  a  coil  of  rope,  saying: 

"  Fix  the  end  of  that  under  your  arms  ; 
fix  it  firm,  so  that  it  won't  slip." 

Then  he  went  round  the  honey  pot 
to  where  Reube  was  standing,  with  pale 
brow  knitted  closely. 

"What  are  we  going  to  do?"  asked 
Reube.    "  I  can't  budge  him." 


ii 


I 


138 


KEUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


W 


Gandy,  in  spite  of  shattered  arm,  had 
succeeded  in  fastening  the  rope  about  his 
waist,  and  now,  placing  the  long,  light 
shaft  of  the  boat  hook  in  front  of  him, 
was  bearing  down  upon  it  as  hard  as  he 
could. 

"  That's  a  good  idea,"  cried  Will.  "  But 
here,  Mart,  the  oar  will  be  better  because 
it's  bigger  round  and  flat  in  the  blade. 
Fling  us  the  boat  hook  and  take  the  oar !  " 

These  efforts,  though  they  had  not  at 
all  availed  to  extricate  the  victim,  had 
kept  him  from  being  dragged  further 
down.  With  the  oar  he  was  able  to  ex- 
ert his  strength  to  more  advantage.  Will 
now  made  a  loop  in  the  rope  and  passed 
the  handle  of  the  boat  hook  through  it. 
Then,  one  on  each  side  of  the  rope,  and 
each  with  the  shaft  across  his  breast,  so 
that  the  whole  formed  a  sort  of  rude  har- 
ness. Will  and  Reube  bent  their  bodies 
to  the  pull  like  oxen  in  a  yoke.  At  the 
same  time  Gandy,  using  his  unwounded 
arm,  lifted  with  all  the  force  that  despair 
could  give  him. 


RESCUED   FROM  THE   HONEY   POTS.        1 39 

For  two  or  thret  seconds  there  was  no 
result.  Was  it  all  to  be  in  vain  ?  Then 
from  Candy's  white  lips  came  a  gasping 
cry  of  "  She  gives  ! "  and  slowly,  slowly  at 
first,  then  with  a  sudden  yielding  which 
nearly  threw  the  rescuers  to  the  ground, 
that  terrible  hold  gave  way,  and  Gandy 
was  jerked  forward  upon  solid  ground. 

White  and  panting  from  the  strain, 
they  turned  to  free  him  from  the  rope. 
He  had  fainted  and  lay  as  if  dead.  The 
anguish  of  his  wound  and  of  his  terror 
and  the  gigantic  effort  which  he  had  just 
put  forth  had  overcome  him. 

"  Let's  get  the  poor  wretch  down  to  the 
water,"  proposed  Will. 

"  We'll  take  him  right  aboard  theZ^/V/^, 
where  we  can  see  to  his  arm  and  fix  him 
a  place  in  the  cuddy,"  said  Reube.  "  The 
Didds  hard  and  fast  now  for  another  six 
hours,  so  we  can  take  our  time.  But  I 
wish  we  could  get  the  chap  to  a  doctor 
sooner  than  that." 

So  saying,  he  picked  up  Candy's  long 
form  and  walked  with  it  easily  down  to 


140 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


t«i 


the  boat.  The  wounded  man  was  still 
unconscious.  A  bed  of  quilts  was  fixed 
for  him,  and  Reube  was  just  about  to 
cut  the  sleeve  from  his  shirt  to  examine 
the  arm  and  bathe  it  when  Will  cried  : 

"  Hold  on  a  minute,  Reube.  The  way 
the  boat  lies  now  I  think  we  can  pry  her 
off  with  the  oar.  See  how  the  sands  dip 
away  on  the  outside." 

He  was  right.  Using  the  big  oar  as  a 
lever,  they  got  the  Dido  afloat  in  a  very 
few  moments.     Then  Reube  said  : 

"  You  sail  the  boat.  Will,  and  I'll  see  to 
the  patient." 

"  You  had  better  let  me  attend  to  him 
while  you  steer,"  suggested  Will. 

"  No,"  said  Reube  ;  "  he's  my  own  pri- 
vate enemy,  and  I  must  look  after  him 
myself.  You  see  to  the  boat."  And  Will 
obeyed  without  more  ado. 

Had  they  been  watching  Gaudy's  face 
they  would  have  seen  the  eyes  open  and 
instantly  close  again.  But  Reube  was 
delicately  cutting  the  sleeve  away,  and 
Will  was  watching  the  process,  the  sail. 


RESCUED   FROM   THE   HONEY  POTS.        14I 


and  the  Didds  course  all  at  the  same 
time.  Gandy  was  conscious,  but  in  a  faint 
way  he  was  wondering  over  the  situation 
in  which  he  found  himself.  Presently  he 
heard  Will  speak  agai.i : 

"  Well,  now  you've  got  him,  and  the 
poor  rascal  is  a  good  deal  worse  for  wear. 
I  can't  for  the  life  of  me  see  what  you're 
going  to  do  with  him." 

Will's  voice  was  kind,  in  a  bantering 
way.  He  found  it  hard  to  maintain  a 
proper  degree  of  righteous  indignation 
against  a  man  whose  life  he  had  just 
saved.  And  that  helpless  arm  he  could 
not  but  contemplate  with  pity. 

"  I'm  going  to  get  him  home  anc(|  into 
the  doctor's  hands,"  said  Reube.  "It 
seems  to  me  he's  punished  enough  this 
time,  and  maybe  he'll  realize  it.  Any- 
way, I'm  not  going  to  take  action  against 
him  after  all  the  trouble  we've  had  to 
save  him.  We'll  just  say  nothing  about 
that  shot  from  the  rocks  till  we  see  how 
he  turns  out  when  he  gets  well.  If 
there's  any  good  in  him,  this  experience 
10 


142 


REUBE  DARE  S  SHAD  BOAT. 


■A 


ought  to  bring  it  out.  And  there  must 
be  some  good  streak  in  a  fellow  that's 
faithful  to  his  family  the  way  Mart  is." 

By  this  time  the  arm  was  bare,  and 
Reube  was  bathing  it  tenderly.  Then, 
covering  the  wound  with  a  wet  compress, 
he  bandaged  it  loosely  and  rose  to  fix  a 
shelter  over  the  patient's  face.  To  his 
amazement  the  tears  were  rolling  down 
Gandy's  sallow  cheeks. 

"What's  the  matter,  Mart.?  Feeling 
worse  ?  "  he  inquired,  anxiously. 

But  Gandy  made  no  reply.  He  cov- 
ered his  face  with  his  one  available  arm, 
and  Reube  could  perceive  his  thin  lips 
working  strangely.  Having  seen  that  he 
was  as  comfortable  as  he  knew  how  to 
make  him,  Reube  seated  himself  by  Will 
in  the  stern.  Save  for  a  few  chance  and 
commonplace  remarks,  there  was  silence 
between  the  two  comrades  for  an  hour, 
while  the  Dido  sped  merrily  homeward. 
They  had  enough  to  occupy  their 
thoughts  in  that  day's  adventures,  but 
thev  did  not  wish  to  talk  of  what  their 


RESCUED   FROM   THE   HONEY   POTS.       I43 


captive  could  hardly  like  to  hear  about. 
At  last  Will  remarked  : 

"  It's  warm,  Reube,  and  your  patient 
must  be  thirsty." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Reube,  springing  up. 
With  a  tin  of  fresh  water  he  stepped  over 
to  Gandy's  side,  slipped  an  arm  under  his 
head  to  raise  it,  and  said : 

"  Here,  Mart,  take  a  sup  to  cool  your 
lips.     They  look  parched." 

Instead  of  complying,  Gandy  grasped 
and  clung  to  the  hand  that  held  the  cup. 

"  Forgive  me,"  he  begged.  "  Reube 
Dare,  forgive  me.  I  never  knowed  what 
I  was  doin'.  To  think  of  all  I've  done 
to  you,  an'  then  you  to  treat  me  like 
this!"     And  he  covered  his  face  again. 

"  Mart,"  said  Reube,  more  moved  than 
he  was  willing  to  let  appear,  "  never  mind 
about  that  now.  We'll  let  bygones  be 
bygones.  Here's  my  hand  on  it."  And 
he  grasped  the  hand  that  hid  Mart's  eyes. 

In  his  weakness  Gandy  was  so  over- 
come that  he  tried  to  laugh  just  while  he 
was  struggling  not  to  cry,  and  he  made  a 


144 


REUBE  dare's  SHAD  BOAT. 


poor  mixture  of  the  attempt.  But,  rais- 
inor  himself  for  a  second  on  his  elbow,  he 
managed  to  murmur  unsteadily : 

"  I  can't  talk,  but,  'fore  God,  I'll  show 
you  both  what  I  think  of  yous." 

And  Mart  Gandy  kept  his  word  through 
after  years  of  loyal  devotion  to  these  two 
young  men  who  on  this  day  had  taught 
him  a  new  knowledge  of  the  human 
heart.  An  ambition  to  seem  worthy  in 
their  eyes  led  him  to  mend  his  life,  and 
the  Gandy  name  soon  grew  in  favor 
throughout  the  Tantramar  countryside. 

As  for  the  Dido,  fate  looked  kindly  on 
her  trips  all  that  season  and  for  sev- 
eral seasons  thereafter.  That  autumn 
Reube  took  his  mother  to  Boston.  Mrs. 
Carter,  with  Will  and  Ted,  went  at  the 
same  time ;  and  after  a  simple  operation, 
much  less  painful  than  had  been  ex- 
pected, Mrs.  Dare  regained  the  perfect  use 
of  her  eyes.  On  their  return  to  the  Tan- 
tramar Will  and  Ted  set  out  agfain  for 
college,  and  this  time  Reube  went  with 
them.     His    Dido  had   proved   herself  a 


RESCUED   FROM   THE   IIOXEV    POTS.        145 

fair  match  for  the  new  marsh  in  the  mat- 
ter of  giving  her  master  an  education. 
During  successive  summer  holidays  she 
carried  Reube  and  Will  and  Ted  on 
many  a  profitable  and  merry  trip,  but 
never  again  did  she  experience  one  so 
eventful  as  that  with  which  she  began  her 
career  as  a  Tantramar  shad  boat.'' 


THE    END. 


